“Quite simply, probably the best novel I have read on this subject
and one of the best I have read in any field of Historical Fiction.”
– Discovering Diamonds review of Home Before the Leaves Fall
Summer, 1917. The war in the air over the Western Front becomes ever more deadly. Imperial Germany is surrounded by enemies and, strangled by the Allied blockade, its resources are slowly running out. The war must be won soon, or the nation will go under.
Franz Becker, Karl von Leussow and his brother Johnny, and the other members of the squadron fight for their lives against new, better and more numerous Allied aircraft. Their own fighters are flawed and unreliable, there are still no parachutes, and all are haunted by the fear of a fiery death.
New pilots, barely out of school, last only a few weeks before being shot down or crashing. The most successful aces receive Prussia’s highest decoration, the coveted Blue Max, but they are deeply aware that their glory is bought with other men’s blood and that their own time is running out.
Franz and Karl have been at war for nearly three years, both know more dead men than living ones, and each fight takes them a little closer to the edge. Who will survive?
