THE LAST PILOT
Jim Harrison is a test pilot in the U.S. Air Force,
one of the exalted few. He spends his days cheating
death in the skies above the Mojave Desert and his
nights at his friend Pancho’s bar, often with his wife,
Grace. She and Harrison are secretly desperate for
a child-and when, against all odds, Grace learns
that she is pregnant, the two are overcome with joy.
While America becomes swept up in the fervor of
the Space Race, Harrison turns his attention home,
Jim Harrison is a test pilot in the U.S. Air Force,
one of the exalted few. He spends his days cheating
death in the skies above the Mojave Desert and his
nights at his friend Pancho’s bar, often with his wife,
Grace. She and Harrison are secretly desperate for
a child-and when, against all odds, Grace learns
that she is pregnant, the two are overcome with joy.
While America becomes swept up in the fervor of
the Space Race, Harrison turns his attention home, passing up the chance
to become an astronaut to welcome his daughter into the world. But when
his family is faced with a sudden and inexplicable tragedy, Harrison’s
instincts as a father and a pilot are put to the test.
The turns the Harrisons take together are at once astonishing and
recognizable; their journey, both frightening and full of hope. Set against
the backdrop of one of the most emotionally charged periods in American
history, The Last Pilot is a mesmerizing debut novel of loss and finding
courage in the face of it from an extraordinary new talent.
- Picador
- Hardcover
- July 2015
- 320 Pages
- 9781250066640
Buy the Book
$26.00
About Benjamin Johncock
Benjamin Johncock resides in England and writes
regularly for The Guardian. The Last Pilot is his first novel.
Praise
“Told in language as beautifully spare-and unsparing-as a desert or a
moonscape, The Last Pilot reminds us in powerful ways that the real
unknown frontier still lies within the mysteries of the human heart.”—Kim Edwards, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lake
of Dreams
“This is by far the best debut novel I’ve read in years . . . a Western in disguise;
a quiet, limpid Western, where the action mostly takes place in the air
and in the chambers of the heart. To me, it reads like the reclusive disciple
of Cormac McCarthy and de Saint-Exupéry.”—Joanne Harris, New York
Times bestselling author
Discussion Questions
Benjamin Johncock provides readers with wonderful,
atmospheric descriptions of the desert landscape. Why
do you think he dedicates so much space to describing
the land?
Pancho is one of the novel’s most colorful characters and
is based on real-life figure, Florence Lowe “Pancho” Barnes. In what
ways is Pancho a woman ahead of her time?
Why does Grace keep her visits with Reverend Irving a secret from Jim?
The Last Pilot is framed by historical events: the Cold War, the Cuban
Missile Crisis, and the Space Race. How does this historical context
affect your reading of the novel? Are you drawn to novels that are
based on true stories?
After Florence is born, Jim begins to learn what it means to be a
parent. Johncock writes, “Florence cried hard when hungry and it cut
into him, not the volume, or the sound, but the need.” What was it
about this situation that Jim didn’t like?
After Jim is told the terrible news about Florence’s brain tumor he still
insists on going through with his scheduled flight test even though
Riley urges him to “call it a day.” Why do you think Jim insists on going
through with the flight test? What insights into Jim’s character does
this scene provide?
Do you think Jim would have made the decision to join NASA’s lunar
landing mission if Florence had lived?
During the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Grace asks Jim to stay
with her instead of continuing to devote all of his time to the space
program. When he refuses, she asks him if he thinks the program is
more important than her, to which he replies, yes. Do you agree with
Jim? Why or why not?
As Jim’s mental state begins to unravel, he starts to believe that he
killed Florence. Do you place any blame on Jim for Florence’s death?
The novel ends on Christmas Eve, 1968. Jim and Grace are watching a
broadcast from the Apollo 8 mission whose crew is the first to see the
entire Earth from space. Why do you think Johncock ends with this
powerful image?