Night Over Water
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Night Over Water is a politically-minded novel written by author Ken Follett and published by William Morrow in 1991. It was reprinted as a paperback book in the U.S. in 1992.
Night Over Water is a fictionalized account of the final flight of the Pan American Clipper passenger airplane during the first few days of World War II, early September, 1939. Follett is careful to state that, though the flight and all of the characters are fictional, the plane (Boeing 314) was real. This plane, nicknamed the "Pan Am Clipper," was a sea-plane, an aircraft that landed in the sea, not on an airstrip. It was powered by 4 propeller engines, and was capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in little more than 24 hours. This made it the fastest mode of transatlantic travel at the time — and very appealing to those who wanted to escape from Britain before the start of the war.
The tale begins with several separated threads, telling the individual stories of the people who later all end up in this last flight to New York. Though Follett manages to bundle all these together, the events the characters share while travelling with the clipper are still told through the perspectives introduced before. Each of these main characters is heading for his own interests in the beginning but soon they melt together.
[edit] List of Characters
- Eddie Deakin - flight engineer
- Carl Hartmann - German scientist fleeing the Nazis
- Harry Marks - lower class Englishman; jewel thief
- The Oxenfords (Lord, Lady, Percy, Margaret) - wealthy English family, Lord Oxenford is a Nazi Sympathiser.
- Diana Lovesey - Englishwoman; running away with Mark Alder
- Nancy Lenehan - American businesswoman
- Tom Luther - enigmatic passenger
- Lulu Bell - fictional American actress
- Mark Alder - American radio manager; running away with Diana Lovesey
- Mervyn Lovesey - English scientist, businessman
- Nat Ridgeway - American businessman
- Princess Lavinia - Russian royalty escaping to America with her jewelery
- Peter Black - American businessman, brother to Nancy Lenehan, flying to New York to man a hostile takeover
- Ollis Field - F.B.I. agent excorting the extradited Frank Gordon to America
- Frank Gordon A.K.A Frankie Gordino - American mobster, wanted in the US for rape, murder and arson
