This is the best historical novel I have ever read. Often, it is near impossible for me to understand a historical novel without a lot of background knowledge. And, even though this whole story line is not true, the images and events that take place are so crystal clear and could have been true for that time era. It could have been true. It was very believable. I can't think of a better title. It neatly tied the past to the present. I was constantly amazed at how easy this was to read, even with occasional German words, and how much I regretted putting a bookmark in the book each time I had to stop. Themes of love, hope, patriotism and courage are strong from cover to cover. This book made me laugh, cry, feel angry, and just about any other emotion in between. I hope this becomes a movie. I will be there with my box of tissues. I learned so much about pigeons and their use in the war, ways to hide and escape when on the run, and how to eat next to nothing to survive. I truly despised the evil things the Germans would do for no good reason. Thank goodness that is no longer true. Some books are just stories. This book can change a person's outlook on life. ( )

Not my usual type of book, but from the moment I started reading it, I could not put it down.
A brilliantly written story about the homing pigeons that were used during World War II to help the Allies. This story bring the human element to the mission with Susan, her grandfather and Ollie.
This story had a lot of up and downs and had me in tears at the end.

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Many novels have been written about World War II heroes. In “The Long Flight Home” (2019), Alan Hlad's first novel, that hero is a pigeon.

In the autumn of 1940, German planes bomb London and other British targets nightly, and a Nazi invasion is expected at any time. The British look for anything that might give them an advantage, and somebody thinks of homing pigeons. The National Pigeon Service quickly organizes and enlists pigeon owners throughout the nation.

Among these are Bertie Shepherd and his granddaughter Susan, who own some of the best racing pigeons in England. Yet Bertie's age and infirmities make his participation difficult, so Susan takes over the operation. The plan calls for dropping pigeons into France in hopes that members of the French Resistance will find them and and use them to send messages about German activities back to England. (Instead, most of the pigeons are eaten by hungry Frenchmen.)

Meanwhile an American pilot named Ollie Evans suddenly loses both his parents and their farm and decides to go to England to try to join the Royal Air Force. But after he assaults an RAF officer he sees offending Susan, he winds up helping her with the pigeon project as an alternative to prison. They quickly fall in love.

The hero pigeon is Susan's pet, Duchess, not actually part of the pigeon drop. Yet through a comedy of errors both Duchess and Ollie, not to mention the RAF officer Ollie struck, find themselves on the same plane that's shot down over France.

Homing pigeons normally fly in just one direction — toward home — yet Duchess has two homes — with Susan and with Ollie — and thus carries messages back and forth between the two lovers.

Hlad keeps the tension high as Ollie and the British officer, both injured in the crash, elude Germans in their struggle to find a way back to England. The bittersweet ending may not be the one readers hope for, but it is one they will remember. ( )

Book Club

En septiembre de 1940, mientras las bombas alemanas caen sobre Gran Bretaña, la joven Susan y su abuelo Bertie hallan consuelo criando y entrenando palomas mensajeras que el Ejército usará para transmitir información sobre los movimientos de los nazis en la Francia ocupada.

A miles de kilómetros, en Estados Unidos, un joven piloto llamado Ollie decide unirse a la RAF, la Real Fuerza Aérea británica, entrando así en contacto con el Servicio Nacional de Palomas, donde conoce a Susan. Tras hacerse inseparables, ambos serán seleccionados para formar parte de una misión secreta que puede llevar al país a la victoria. Sin embargo, cuando el avión de Ollie es derribado en líneas enemigas, Susan sabe que las posibilidades de reunirse de nuevo son remotas. Pero Duquesa, su querida y fiel paloma, demostrará a todo el mundo que nunca debemos perder la esperanza.

Basada en la verdadera historia de la Operación Columba, ideada por Winston Churchill y en la que se usaron miles de palomas durante la guerra, El largo camino a casa es una fascinante y épica novela que homenajea a los seres anónimos que cambiaron el rumbo de la Historia.

Not my kind of book, although it was a real-page turner for me once I got a third of the way in. I read this for my book club, otherwise I never would have picked it up, or would have abandoned it after a few chapters. Some creativity but a lot of clichés too, and I think aimed at a high school reading level audience. I thought about a parallel with some pop music, how it can be dumb but catchy. But the difference is that a song on the radio is over with in 3 minutes, I spent maybe 3 or 4 -hours- on this. No worse than watching tv I guess. ( )