Russia, 1941. The day the Germans invade, 16-year-old flying prodigy Aelya Makarova is giving flight lessons and thinking about summer vacation. Within weeks, her hometown is destroyed.
When the Soviet Air Force starts recruiting women, Aelya knows how she can fight back: at the controls of a fighter plane. But the Nazis aren't the only foes she needs to face. Her female squadron is split by petty rivalries, male pilots treat them like a joke, and the perfect motherland she thought she was fighting for doesn't exist.
Thrown into the hell over Stalingrad, Aelya will learn not only the limits of her abilities, but what she is willing to sacrifice.
