Beyond Amelia
by Heather Stemp
Nimbus Publishing, 2024
ISBN 978-1-77471-270-2
$16.95, 256 pp, ages 11 – 15
nimbus.ca
Ontario author Heather Stemp has completed the third installment of her award-winning Ginny Ross historical fiction series. Set in 1940 – 1941, the book covers Ginny’s last few months at Purdue University in the United States, three years after her mentor Amelia Earhart disappeared. Desperate to use her flying skills to help defeat Nazi Germany, Ginny decides to become “Jimmy Ross” and sets out to join the nascent Atlantic Ferry Command program that is sending Hudson bombers to Britain via Gander, Newfoundland. After several harrowing crossings, Ginny decides the risk of exposure amongst her mostly misogynistic male colleagues exceeds the rewards of assisting the war effort. Meanwhile a fortuitous meeting with Jackie Cochran in Montreal, who would go on to found the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program, presents Ginny with at least the hope that soon she could be of continued use to the war effort while “feeling comfortable in [her] own skin.”
Classroom Connections: Stemp’s family roots are in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland (she is actually related to the pioneering real-life aviator Ginny Ross). As a historian, I must remark that this is a well-researched, realistic, and informative adventure story. Readers will learn about civilian life in Montreal (especially French Canadian food), and in Newfoundland (including mumming), and cultural norms in Northern Ireland (céilís and funeral rituals). Above all, the work deals with gender expectations in the 1940s. Women’s roles were rigidly defined, forcing pioneers like Ginny to push back, sometimes in the face of actual violence. Classroom teachers could have students note elements of continuity and change, as well as compare and contrast aspects of gender norms then and now. Stemp has included an author’s note explaining the actual history of Ferry Command, and the work includes black and white photos of Gander Airport in 1940 and the Hudson Bombers involved. Lastly, she has a personal website which includes textual, photographic, and video resources offering additional insight into this whole series.
Review by George Sheppard.
This review is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Spring 2025 issue.
