Description:

This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Novels by Eoin Colfer, and Another Thing..., the Supernaturalist, Airman, Half Moon Investigations, the Wish List, Benny Shaw, Click, the Supernaturalist 2. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Airman Airman, by Eoin Colfer, is a best-selling historical adventure novel set in the 19th century. It was released in the UK, Ireland and USA in January 2008. The novel has been shortlisted for the 2009 Carnegie Medal . Colfer was inspired to write the book after a frightening skydiving experience. He combined this with his childhood observation that the Saltee Islands would make an excellent prison .Most of the story is completely fictional. The Saltee islands have been uninhabited since the 19th century, and all of the main characters in the story are fictional.Plot The book begins with the Paris World's Fair of 1878, which Declan Broekhart and his wife are attending. Conor Broekhart is born, flying over Paris in a hot air balloon.In the 1890s Conor and his family live on the sovereign Saltee Islands, off the Irish coast, which are ruled by King Nicholas Trudeau. Nicholas is a progressive leader who is helping the islands adapt to the industrialized world.In a fire accident, when they are trapped on one of the tower's roofs, Conor saves Isabella (Nicholas' daughter) and himself, by making a makeshift glider and gliding down to sea from the royal palace. After they are rescued from the ocean, King Nicholas knights Conor for his bravery.Conor spends his days with his tutor, Victor Vigny, studying, and learning how to fly, and exploring the castle with the king's daughter, Princess Isabella. Conor and Victor are obsessed with building a "flying machine." In secret, the head of the island's guards, Marshall Bonvilain, conspires to overthrow Nicholas and seize co...