Billie Swift Takes Flight

Iszi Lawrence (@iszi_lawrence) is a writer, comedian, podcaster and history presenter. She is a regular on TV history documentaries including shows for Sky History, Netflix, Yesterday and the Smithsonian Channel. She was co-host of BBC Radio 4’s flagship show, Making History with Tom Holland and presents Your Place or Mine with Shaun Keaveny (BBC R4 and Sounds). Her podcasts include The British Museum Membercast and popular science podcast Terrible Lizards with Dr Dave Hone. She is the author of four adventurous and funny middle grade children’s novels including Blackbeard's Treasure (which was selected as Blackwell's Children's Book of the Month) and a quirky series for 6-9 year olds, The Time Machine Next Door, all published by Bloomsbury. She is a regular visitor to schools and runs history and historical fiction workshops for Key Stage 2 and 3 students. Visit her website: iszi.com to find out more.

Truly inspiring, full of the spirit of the time and with so many real life people who were the inspiration for Iszi Lawrence’s characters, this is a book that brilliantly evokes a part of history where relatively little of the fictional focus has been on women. It helps to bring their contribution to the notice of today’s readers, many of whom won’t be much younger than Billie herself.Definitely a book I recommend for anyone learning about WW2 at school, either as a class read aloud or a solo read; and for home reading by children who love an exciting tale.