Review: Holding Pattern by Nesta Tuomey

Holding Pattern 

by Nesta Tuomey

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.

Aristotle

Note:

Irish author Nesta Tuomey’s previous  novel, Up, Up, and Away, first introduces the reader  to the  ardent love story between Kay Martin and Captain Graham Pender. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, I would strongly recommend doing so. In this story, Tuomey paints vivid images of Kay’s emotional and moral struggle with her impassioned love for Captain Pender who is married and has children.

Holding Pattern, while a complete novel in itself, draws the reader further into Kay Martin’s world of the glamour and excitement of being an Irish Hostess on Celtic Airways in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Historically, the qualifications for recruiting hostesses at that time were quite stringent. Age, height, weight, as well as, physical beauty, and personality were just part of the standards for hiring. More over, in the early decades of airline flight, pilots such as characterized by Captain Graham Pender felt the lure of a career that was considered unprecedented,  adventurous and just as glamorous as the hostesses. Through this lens, we can appreciate the depth and essence of the two lovers’ personalities as they interact one with the other.

As their lives take unexpected twists and turns,  overwhelming developments cause both Kay and Graham to make momentous decisions with unforeseen repercussions. Tuomey keeps us in suspense as events  diverge and come together throughout the story. I became so engrossed in the progression of their trials and tribulations, that it was difficult to put the book down. It is a mesmerizing read.

Holding Pattern is a journey of self discovery, of love, passion, and longing. Above all, this story of Kay Martin and Captain Pender evolves into something more profound. Their narrative evokes memories of long forgotten paths, taken or not taken, during one’s lifetime. 

I was vastly entertained by Holding Pattern. I  sincerely recommend it.

If you would like to read about the early glory days of Aer-Lingus, here is a link you would enjoy. You could image what air travel was like when Kay Martin and Captain Graham Pender were part of the crew on Celtic Airlines. https://www.independent.ie/life/travel/travel-talk/aer-lingus-the-glory-days-30948531.html