Into the Blue: A Father's Flight and a Daughter's Return [Hardcover]

Susan Edsall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004

The Chicago Sun Times praises "Into the Blue is Susan Edsall's fascinating chronicle of the fight to get her father back into his beloved Big Sky...an engagingly readable testament to an everyday courage....Salted with hilarious memories of Edsall family life, peppered with touching reminiscences of flight with her father, [Edsall] mixes the positive with the painful until it's not only palatable but also poignant."

Three years ago, Susan Edsall's father, a rebuilder and pilot of antique airplanes, suffered a devastating stroke that left him unable to read, write, speak, tell time, understand the alphabet---or fly. The doctors told Susan the best her family could hope for was that he would learn to play checkers. Susan knew if her dad couldn't fly, he'd just as soon not breathe, so she chose another path. Battling the pessimistic conclusion of the experts---and her own looming fears---she and her sister, Sharon, aka the Blister Sisters, decided to take matters into their own hands. With no medical training but double doses of determination, they bushwhacked their own rehab program and got their father back behind the controls of his beloved open-cockpit biplane and into the air.

Susan Edsall's Into the Blue is a powerful family memoir about two feisty sisters from Montana who bring their father back to life---and discover themselves in the process. Inspiring, gritty, and often hilarious, it's also the story of anyone who has ever fought back from a dire prognosis to pursue a cherished dream.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Edsall’s father, an avid antique plane pilot and rebuilder, was reduced to a frustrated, partially-paralyzed mute after suffering a mild stroke, Edsall and her sister, Sharon, rallied to the challenge of teaching him how to speak, read, write, drive-and fly-once more. Faced with a "too bad, so sad" attitude from medical staff, the sisters studied teachers’ guides from the local bookstore and took turns in two-week stints, returning to the family home in Montana to work with their father. "I laid out all my plans for the next day, the lessons in thirty-minute blocks," writes Edsall. "I made flash cards with the alphabet on them. I arranged my cache of books on the buffet table, which converted nicely into a makeshift library." After two months of this relentless, proactive regimen-not without its poignant setbacks-their father had almost completely recovered his faculties and was miraculously able to soar his 1942 BT-13 through the clouds once again. Edsall superbly weaves childhood memories, past flying adventures and family foibles into her uplifting narrative. While this account is certainly sentimental, the father’s triumphant rehabilitation-along with his daughters’ obvious devotion, nerve and diligence-will undoubtedly inspire other stroke survivors and their families. Photos throughout.
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Review

"Into the Blue is an inspiring true story of love, courage and triumph. As Edsall brilliantly relates, life's toughest battles don't take place on a battlefield."
- Stephen Coonts, New York Times bestselling author of Liberty and Liars and Thieves

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312321414
• ISBN-13: 978-0312321413
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,102,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for every human being!, June 8, 2004

By 

Joan Herwig (Belgrade, MT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Into the Blue: A Father's Flight and a Daughter's Return (Hardcover)

This is a fabulous book!

If you are a breathing human being, read this book, if you have lost touch with your humanity, read this book, if you are in touch with your humanity, read this book!

Susan is a very talented writer who writes from her heart, her gut and from her brilliance. Her descriptions alone are worth the purchase!

This marvelous story will make you cry real tears, laugh out loud (I did, even in public), and your life will be enriched with Susan's down to earth insight. This courageous heartfelt story is unique, but you will also find it to be your own. It will lift you up and you will be soaring in your own skies! And you will agree with Susan that hope is neither elusive nor imaginary.

After reading this terrific story, you will have no doubt that hope and love are worth fighting for. This book is a prize! Snatch it up now!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing story of two sisters who wouldn't give up, June 3, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Into the Blue: A Father's Flight and a Daughter's Return (Hardcover)

When two sisters, Susan and Sharon, learn that their dad's had a stroke and can't walk or talk, their second shock is that the doctors are focussed on getting him to do the bare minimum--play checkers and make peanut butter sandwiches. The sisters are determined to get him back to flying his antique airplanes--the love of his life next to family. They ignore the doctors' negative prognosis, figure out their own rehab program, and...what, you think I'm going to tell you the ending? Trust me, you'll be cheering.

This is such a funny (I mean, laugh-out-loud funny) and inspiring book. I especially loved that the author is very frank about her own failings--she ends up learning as much about love and survival as her dad.

I'm getting a copy for my mom, a cancer survivor, because she can totally relate to lack of support from doctors. She's going to laugh and cry just like I did. I'd recommend this highly to anyone who's ever had to deal with a devastating life blow or has a loved one who's struggling.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for ladies only?, May 2, 2005

By 

Sean D. Reynolds (White Plains, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Into the Blue: A Father's Flight and a Daughter's Return (Hardcover)

OK, I'm humble enough to admit I was wrong. When one of my best friends, a Volvo-driving soccer mom if there ever was one, suggested that I read and PURCHASE "Into The Blue", I was skeptical at best. Scenario: author and sister rehabilitate stroke-afflicted father so he can - *gag* - fly again. Yet another "chick" book. Ho-hum.

So untrue. It's been a long, long while since I've been so entertained, overwhelmed, affected, whatever, by a memoir. Susan Edsall has a great gift for writing, and for viewing the world by crushing the rose colored glasses. If this were simply a novel about how our heroine pulls her dad back from the abyss, it'd probably sell a bazillion copies in the romance section. "Into The Blue" is not simple - not by a long shot.

First off, it should be required reading for every med student, neurology resident, or anyone who has contact with stroke victims. The start of Edsall's tale is pretty grim; not for what happened to her father, but for the reaction of the medical community to his plight - indifference, condescension, and that "oh well, that's what happens, nothing we can do" type of nonsense that we've all seen too well from supposed professionals who you'd think would have more insight and creativity to go with all that specialized education.

Love of a parent pushes the Edsall family into a series of tough decisions, but the neat part of this book is the places that they come to as a result of these mileposts. The author seems as surprised as the reader at times by the way in which her father's stroke and her family's actions cause her (and all of them) to reconnect in new and very meaningful fashion. Susan's descriptions of her relationships past and present with her mother, her husband and above all her sister Sharon are hysterical - and very moving. I could relate 80 percent of her patter to my own family, which was an experience both interesting and disturbing!

This is a tremendous piece of writing, worthy of wide distribution and discussion.