Tanner, J: Inherit the Skies (ePub)

The box kite began to move, slowly at first, bumping over the uneven turf then gathering speed. The twin propellers whirred, the ground raced by beneath his wheels. He was taxiing now as fast as was safe. There was nothing between him and disaster except . . . flight!

Two women watched as Adam Bailey made that first momentous attempt to take the first prototype box kite into the air, two women whom fate had already thrown together yet who were already sworn enemies.

Alicia Morse, beautiful, spoiled and ruthless, was the daughter of Gilbert Morse, land owner and head of the family engineering firm. She had lived her life taking what she wanted - and now more than anything she wanted Adam.

Sarah Thomas was the orphaned daughter of a village seamstress. She had been raised alongside Alicia, for Gilbert had taken pity on the child who had been destined for the workhouse. That was long ago now - at seventeen she was as daring as she was lovely and had made a name for herself parachuting from a balloon at air displays the length and breadth of the country. But she too loved Adam. To her his dream of manufacturing an aeroplane that would fly was the most important thing in the world. And she was prepared to sacrifice anything to ensure he did not fail.

Inherit the Skies is the story of how that dream became reality, of the birth of an aircraft corporation of worldwide renown and the price it extracted from those pioneers who dedicated their lives to it.