"Clear to Lift"

Anne A. Wilson is the author of Hover and Clear to Lift. She was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a degree in ocean engineering. She served nine years active duty as a navy helicopter pilot, including three years flying search and rescue, where she specialized in high altitude, technical mountain rescue. Following her military service, she worked for four years in the semiconductor industry. Currently, she and her husband own a triathlon coaching company, Camelback Coaching. Wilson lives in Fountain Hills, Arizona, with her husband and two sons.

Wilson applied the Page 69 Test to Clear to Lift and reported the following:

From page 69:

Only once, in an unintended slip, did I learn something about my real father. I was eleven, and Mom was adding another row of larkspur—a new hybrid that would bloom lavender with a midnight-blue center. I sat next to her in the dirt, watching closely, idly floating through another stress-free summer vacation. She mumbled it, almost like she was talking to herself. “Your father would love this new color. It’s his favorite flower....”

Later, I asked Nick about it. “I didn’t know you liked larkspur.”

“What’s a larkspur?” he responded.

And so, I observed. When Mom seemed melancholy, she would invariably wander out to the backyard, sit on the rod-iron bench that overlooked her garden, pull up her knees, and wrap her arms around them. I would watch her breathe deeply and close her eyes. In my child mind, I thought she just enjoyed sitting among the flowers. But my adult mind realizes she was sitting with my father.

If you were skimming Clear to Lift and hit this page, you wouldn’t be aware of the action, the adventure, the blizzards and floods, and daring helicopter rescues you’d experience in this novel.

Instead, you’d find something quite the opposite. Something quiet and personal. A woman struggling to learn more about the father she never knew. The main protagonist, Alison, is trying to piece together clues about her real father and this is something she pursues throughout the book. Of course, at the same time, she’s doing some pretty heroic helicopter piloting!

Would someone read on? Gosh, I sure hope so. This page is just a rest stop in an otherwise fast-paced, action-packed book.

Visit Anne A. Wilson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Hover.

--Marshal Zeringue