title: Learning to Fly: A Thriller
author:  April Henry 
description: <b>Penzler Pick, <a href="/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/279998/${0}">April 2002</a>:</b> An exceptionally gripping opening sets the pace for this suspenseful and original thriller from northwest writer April Henry. For those readers old enough to remember the classic 1960s New Wave French film <i><a href="/exec/obidos/ASIN/6302149487/${0}">Weekend</a></i>, it will be easy enough to picture in the mind's eye the panoramic landscape of a massive, chain reaction-induced highway traffic disaster.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is a work of fiction. All names,  
  characters, and incidents are the product  
  of the author’s imagination. Any  
  resemblance to actual occurrences or  
  persons, living or dead, is coincidental.  
  Historical events and personages are fictionalized.
  
  KESTREL
  
  Copyright © 2013 by Meredith Simmons
  
  All rights reserved. With the exception  
  of brief quotes used in critical articles  
  or reviews, no part of this book may  
  be reproduced in any form or by any means  
  without written permission of the author.
  
  ISBN: 978-0-9895641-0-6
  
  ISBN: 978-0-9895641-1-3
  
  Published by Singing Spring Press
  
  ![](images/00005.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For Mom,
  
  who taught me how to fly
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  PROLOGUE
  
  ![](images/00004.jpg)
  
  Early Spring, 1807
  
  Joshua, Lord Trent, surreptitiously flexed the muscle in his right calf,
  trying to make a painful cramp go away without alerting Amanda. The position
  she’d suggested had been exhilarating but damned uncomfortable. He wondered i