$21.95
Paperback, 6″ x 9″
302 pages
ISBN 978-1-63381-385-4
by Alfred Kildow
They meet in a small town in Japan: a combat jet pilot who rose from deep poverty while suppressing a deep secret; a wealthy woman who secretly hates her husband. He is on a break from combat; she plots to end her marriage. Their brief romance yields to his return to combat. Years later, they reunite over their son. Until he returns to combat again.
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Tension builds in this taut story from the first page. The note about his youth “We lived somewhere near nowhere” captures the jet fighter’s forceful character and the author’s powerful writing. I couldn’t stop reading!
—Marion Flores, financial executive, Dallas, Texas
Chandelle is a magnificent testimony to the author’s creativity in that every element of this novel is an invention of his mind backed by superb use of facts, which lend verisimilitude to the people and events that drive the plot. The span of the story over many decades without loss of focus or detail and with realistic character development compels the attention of the reader—or, at least, this reader.
—Peter Branch, historian and educator, Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Chandelle takes readers through one exciting event after another in the life of Robert Williams, a fighter pilot who rose to the highest level of Air Force command. Along the way he overcame many problems, including being a POW, being charged with murder, and political intrigue. I just could not put this book down.
—Dr. Frank Rees Jr., AIA, LEED AP founder, Dallas, Texas
From its opening pages, Kildow’s taut prose propels his lead characters into each other like the balls of an angry billiard break, caroming off of each other at angles that only hint where they will fly later in the book. Chandelle, which in fighter pilot lingo means to turn tail, climb, and run from danger, is the perfect metaphor for this well-titled and well-tempered fourth novel. What Kildow allows the reader to discover for themselves is that a Chandelle entails, for all of his characters, the possible danger of stalling out and crashing. Enjoy the ride.
—John Pinto, health care executive, San Diego, California
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Like his lead character in Chandelle, Kildow grew up orphaned and poor. Lived in his old car. He volunteered during the Korean War and became a jet fighter pilot. He was a journalist in California, a public relations executive, and an assistant to Dr. Jonas Salk. Born in January 1933 in San Diego, he lives in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, with his wife, Dr. Judith T. Kildow.
For more information, visit the author’s website.