The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin (audio)

★★★★★

"A woman's life, always changing, accommodating, then shedding, old duties for new; one person's expectations for another until finally, victoriously, emerging stronger. Complete."

This is a fascinating historical novel about Anne Morrow - wife of the famous Charles Lindbergh and his record breaking journey across the Atlantic.  I didn't know much about the Lindberghs before reading this story - aside from what is "written in the history books" - and I learned a lot while at the same time reading an extremely entertaining book.  

I didn't always like Anne's decisions (and I disliked the author's portrayal of Charles more often than not), but I liked her character and found her life so interesting. They were a famous couple from the start of Charles's flight and their lives were affected by it. Anne continually tried to live a "normal" life and was constantly in the spotlight.  I was heartbroken by their loss of Charles, Jr. at such a young age and how it impacted both of them, especially Anne, throughout the rest of their lives.  

Anne seemed like such an ordinary person at the beginning of the novel, but she ended up living such an extraordinary live.  From the start of the book, I could tell that she was going to be a character that was different.  She wasn't as pretty or popular as her sister and didn't have any desire for fame or fortune.  The result of her marriage to Charles was not exactly what she wanted in life, but she tried and tried to make it work.  Anne was extremely loyal to Charles for many, many years at the start of their marriage and was always trying to live up to his unrealistic expectations.  

I found myself really relating to her constant struggle to balance her role to be a wife, a mother, an author, and (much later on in her life) her own person.  This novel was essentially about Anne and Charle's marriage, but it was more about Anne's journey through different stages of her life.  She was constantly adapting and changing into what her husband or children or the press wanted and needed her to be.  And she was successful through all of it.  She was always know as the "aviator's wife" and I was glad to get a glimpse into many other parts of her life.  I'm not sure how accurate the book was to her true thoughts and emotions, but I was happy that she was able to find contentment at a later stage in life.  This was a wonderful book by a very talented author.  I loved the story and the characters and the emotions that it brought up, but what made the book amazing for me was the writing and the historical aspects that went into this book.