Goodbye Dolly by E.J. Lake: A Dieselpunk Love Letter to Aviation

I have a fondness for aviation and naval stories, especially in dieselpunk. So when I saw a cover of a World War II B-17 shredding a German ME-262 while approached by two World War I biplanes, I was intrigued. In many ways, I’d call this an aviation-focused version of The Final Countdown. A B-17 crew limping home after a bombing run over occupied Europe flies into a thunderstorm to escape a pursuing Nazi ME-262. While within the storm, they get hit by a mysterious red light and are then taken through the storm.

They think they can return to base, but soon find things are different, and eventually land on a large English estate, which is soon revealed to be the estate of disgraced British politician Winston Churchill. Not, of course, the Churchill from the 1940s that they are familiar with, but a much younger version fresh off his humiliation from the Gallipoli campaign. Once the initial confusion is sorted out and everyone is assured this is not a trap from German spies, the real story begins— a one plane strategic bombing campaign against the Central Powers, coordinated by Winston Churchill, who is playing a long game of his own, and whose own engineers are trying to make use of the Nazi ME-262 that also traveled into the past.

This book is for those who love old war birds and bombers of World War II, as Lake knows his stuff. He is intimately familiar with the logistics of flying both the bomber and ME-262 and shows a keen understanding of the mechanical elements of the planes. He’s also very enthusiastic about them, which carries through in the writing, sometimes perhaps too much. I appreciate understanding how the Norden bombsight worked in practice. Still, there were a few occasions I found myself skimming over sections that touched on the more technical aspects for longer than I thought necessary.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was light and a fairly easy read. Stylistically, I would place it closer to a story told out loud. The narrator’s POV is truly omniscient in a way I have not seen in a long time. It’s useful to bounce between the parallel story lines of the American and German aircrews, but sometimes I found the head-hopping to be distracting. In some cases, one paragraph will be the male protagonist’s internal monologue, and then we will immediately switch to the female love interest’s. I found that confusing, trying to keep track of who the story was focused on.

Speaking of characters, there were a bit too many. There were nine airmen on the B-17, three of whom essentially disappeared shortly into the book, only to sporadically reappear. That still left six airmen from the original crew, plus their British replacements. Plus, there was Churchill, his secretary/assistant (Mavis), the British aircraft engineer, the British cabinet, and all of their German equivalents. All in all, I think there were close to 15 characters who were the POV character, even if only for a paragraph or two. That felt like too much to keep track of, especially in the B-17 crew.

Ostensibly, the main character was the pilot, as he had the most screen time, so to speak, and the only one to have a love interest appear in-scene (other than Lady Churchill). I never really feel like we get to know him, though. Nor Mavis, his love interest, whose romantic relationship developed very quickly and not in entirely in a way that felt natural. For the most part, the English and American characters were all heroic, determined, do-gooders willing to make the world a better place. Only one character questioned the ethics of their actions (American service members flying a US Army bomber against a country that the US was not at war with), and the complications he raised were handled very swiftly and neatly. I would have liked more exploration of this issue, as this had a lot of moral weight to it, second only to the possibility that their presence would change the course of the future. Additionally, there was nothing that made the characters want to go back to 1944. They didn’t even attempt to find a way back, which was something that I expected.

Overall, it was an enjoyable book. If you’re looking for a story that explores the consequences of time travel, parallel worlds, and their intersection with the ethics of military action, this probably isn’t the one for you. These elements were present long enough to establish the plausibility of the story and then essentially left behind. If you’re looking for a decent yarn about WW2 planes and pilots intersecting with WW1, then this is one you’ll likely enjoy!

3/5 stars