The Life and Times of Pancho Barnes
In the spring of 1928, Pancho was ready for a new adventure. The Mexican trip had been wonderful, exciting, memorable. She continued to regale her friends with her tales of adventure, embroidering them in the telling, conscious of herself as the main character in a dramatic narrative she could shape and reshape. She started up her parties again in the newly redecorated San Marino mansion. She rode her horses. But she was bored.
Her cousin, Dean Banks, had just started taking flying lessons at an old balloon field in nearby Arcadia and asked her if she wanted to come along. Equally interested in new adventures and in not allowing Dean to get too much ahead of her in anything, she readily agreed. Although she had not considered the idea of taking flying lessons before that moment, now, suddenly, it seemed like the best idea in the world.
Los Angeles Times Best Seller
The juicy biography of a barnstormer, cross-country flier, Hollywood stunt pilot, and “madame” who lived a big, messy, color, and unconventional life.
The Reviews are In…
“There’s a great story on every page of this book. It’s a real page-turner.”
—David Letterman on The Late Show with David Letterman
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Lauren Kessler has written a delightful biography…that reads at the same pace as Barnes’ life: nonstop. Move over, Amelia Earhart.
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Compulsively readable…Fascinating…Kessler’s storytelling is gripping and empathetic, with a tempo that seems to have been kindled by Pancho’s own high-speed life.
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Like a good novelist, Kessler has an eye for the quirky detail, and like an historian, she has a feel for the big picture.
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The hard-drinking, sexually promiscuous pilot and adventuress Florence Pancho Barnes exploded every feminine stereotype on the books. Thank you, Lauren Kessler, for telling her story with the grace and exuberance it deserves.
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High-spirited and authoritative…an exuberant subject.
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Engrossing…shamelessly entertaining. A juicy, smart biography…
