... written by Elizabeth Church. Sorry, but I cannot provide details about publisher or date of printing, as it has already been returned to the library. Read a couple of weeks ago, and just now finding a note to myself written on the back of a 'to do' list as a reminder to provide the report on a really good read. I enjoyed enough to want to share, but got busy, waylaid and failed to write a review sooner.
"You don't know what you don't know": there are books I check out and take back without finishing, as well as others that are so awful you don't need to know about them. I will occasionally check out something in print that the reviews on the cover or inside front flap make me think might be worth reading, only to find they do not capture my attention enough to keep plodding along - so they go in the drop-off bin without you even knowing they exist. The random recorded book might get me started down the road, then become so tiresome I will quit after a disc, or three, unwilling to spend any more time trying to follow the convoluted plot or myriad characters. That too, is returned without getting to the last line, so you never know about books that are so tedious they should never have been published. Shame on those editors who told the authors they were wonderful, and then convinced their company to publish, only to end up on the shelf at the Just-A-Buck store.
The book starts with Lily being the only survivor of a car accident that killed her parents and sister. She goes to live with her mother's sister and husband. The husband is a pedophile, and molests Lily at night until she reaches puberty. The aunt does nothing to stop him, and is often harsh, seeming to be overbearing and unloving to a child who was traumatized by the death of her immediate family, then subjected to the nighttime visits of her aunt's husband.
The man, a jet pilot, who was the cause of the accident when her family was killed, is obviously consumed with guilt, and begins to anonymously send books and other gifts to Lily. As she grows, he funds dancing lessons, as well as saving to help pay for college. Lily eventually finds out who he is when she discovers old newspaper clippings about the accident, and they become acquainted, with Lily referring to him only as The Aviator.
As soon as Lily finishes high school, she gets on a bus to travel to Las Vegas, hoping to become a dancer in a casino. You will not be surprised as Lily changes, adapts to the lifestyle of a showgirl on the Strip in Vegas. She changes her name to Rose, is befriended by other dancers, as well as making the acquaintance of various unsavory characters who people the casinos. Encountering wealthy men who are accustomed to believing they can have anything they want, with the funds to exert influence on anyone who might initially refuse their demands. Sounds familiar huh, in the news every day?
A story rich in detail, full of well formed characters you come to feel as if you know. I enjoyed reading it, staying up too late, and taking it to work to get in a few minutes on my lunch break. A surprise ending: you will think that The Aviator.... oh, sorry - no spoilers here!
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