Book Review: Daughters of the Night Sky

Daughters of the Night Sky by Aimie K. Runyan paints a tale of love, comradery, and inevitable loss, set against the backdrop of World War II on the Eastern Front. Based on the actual exploits of the Night Witches – Russia’s all female volunteer pilot squadrons – the book tells a story that few Westerners know much about.

One thing that Daughters of the Night Sky isn’t, is an aerial action thriller. To me, the air portions felt like the weakest parts of the book, serving mainly to move the plot of the characters along. Basic terminology mistakes, such as saying that German planes would “stall their engines” in trying to engage the Night Witches’ slow Polikarpov U-2 biplanes, take focus away from the story being told.

Combat isn’t the focus of the book, however, so I’ll leave my criticism of the author’s aviation errors at that. Instead, the focus is on the life of Katya Ivanova as she goes through the war, moving from initial navigator training through to the end of the war with the women of her squadron. Along the way we’re introduced to her comrades and squadron mates, and the man she falls in love with and marries.

In reality, the women of the 588^th flew near constant night bombing missions. Often flying eight or nine sorties a night, their primary role was to harass the nearby German camps and degrade the effectiveness of the enemy soldiers. By the end of World War II, their squadron had flown over 23,000 missions. For this, a squadron comprising a total of 261 women suffered 32 fatalities and 28 destroyed aircraft.

Katya and her squadron mates must deal with much more than German bullets, however. Sexist officers at every level cause nearly as many problems for the squadron as the enemy. The challenges push Katya and the others to work even harder, and show they are better than the male squadrons.

In the book, the author carefully tiptoes around the reality that the Easter Front was essentially two of the most grotesque mass-murdering tyrants the world has ever seen throwing bodies at each other. None of the main or supporting cast women that we meet are especially enthusiastic Communists, and several have a secret or two revealed along the way. It’s an understandable author’s decision not to include any particularly patriotic defenders of Stalin’s regime in the book, but it does detract a bit from the historical realism. It’s difficult to believe that none of the women who volunteered for flight duty were hardline Party supporters.

If you’re looking for descriptions of dramatic dogfights, tense cat and mouse battles with German fighters, and dramatic bombing runs, this book is going to be a disappointment. However, as historical fiction, it’s excellent and well worth anyone’s time.