In 1947, photographer and war correspondent Janey Everett arrives at a remote village on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to research a biography of forgotten aviation pioneer Sam Mallory, who joined the loyalist forces in the Spanish Civil War and never returned. Obsessed with Sam's fate, Janey has tracked down Irene Lindquist, the owner of a local island-hopping airline, who she believes is the legendary Irene Foster, Mallory's onetime flying partner. Foster's disappearance during a round-the-world flight in 1937 remains one of the world's greatest unsolved mysteries. At first, Mrs. Lindquist denies any connection to Foster. But Janey informs her that the wreck of Sam Mallory's airplane has recently been discovered, and piece by piece, the details of Foster's life emerge: from the beginnings of her flying career to her complicated relationship with Mallory to the collapse of her marriage to her career manager, the publishing scion George Morrow. As Irene spins her tail to its searing conclusion, Janey's own turbulent past gathers power. What really happened to Mallory all those years ago? Can we ever come to terms with the lost of those we love, and the lives we might have lived?
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