Conor Broekhart was born to fly. In fact, legend has it that he was born flying, in a hot air balloon at the Paris World’s Fair.In the 1890s Conor and his family live on the sovereign Saltee Islands, off the Irish coast. Conor spends his days studying the science of flight with his tutor and exploring the castle with the king’s daughter, Princess Isabella. But the boy’s idyllic life changes forever the day he discovers a deadly conspiracy against the king. When Conor tries to intervene, he is branded a traitor and thrown into jail on the prison island of Little Saltee. There, he has to fight for his life, as he and the other prisoners are forced to mine for diamonds in inhumane conditions. There is only one way to escape Little Saltee, and that is to fly. So Conor passes the solitary months by scratching drawings of flying machines on the prison walls. The months turn into years; but eventually the day comes when Conor must find the courage to trust his revolutionary designs and take to the skies.
Related: France, Historical Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Ireland
- ISBN: 9781423107507
- Author: Colfer, Eoin
- Published: 2008, Hyperion Book CH
- Themes: Adventure, conspiracy, escaping, flying, Inventors and inventions, island
- Descriptors: France, Historical Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Ireland
- No. of pages: 416
This was an audiobook with nine CDs, and I listened to the whole thing in three days. This is the same author who wrote Artemis Fowl so I expected it to be good. I started listening to the book because I’ve always like the idea of flying, and the science of flying, and it turned out to be a very interesting story. It takes place in the 1890s in Ireland. After the first CD I decided to go on. It’s a story about a young boy named Connor who grows up looking at the sky and wanting to fly, and eager to invent different things that would carry him in the air. Connor later finds out that flying is not only amusing and interesting, but can save his life.