GIRL IN FLIGHT

In this debut memoir, a woman recalls a youth spent flying between parents.

In her book, Buchanan recounts an unusual childhood. Her life in flight began three days after her birth, when her adoptive parents, George and Meyera, whisked her away in their private jet. George, from a Manhattan family replete with crest-embroidered pajamas and handkerchiefs, and Meyera, the daughter of a Beverly Hills surgeon, lived a life of luxury loaded with fast cars, boats, airplanes, and a custom-built California home. After they divorced, George returned to Manhattan. At the age of 5, Buchanan began regular cross-country commercial airplane flights. Meyera and her widowed mother, Elsie, known by all as Meme, pooled their money to buy a 40-unit apartment building in Brentwood, California. The author recalls that compassionate residents and her close relationship with Meme helped her cope with Meyera’s alcoholism, George’s verbal abuse, and a constant, ugly battle over childrearing and custody arrangements that sent her flying between families several times a year. At 14, she concluded that “someone had to cut something adrift, or we’d all perish in this unwinnable war.” She refused to visit her father that Christmas, and he made good on a vow to never speak to her again. He died 17 years later. Buchanan deftly describes a life populated with the ultra-wealthy on both coasts. Her childhood love of horses will resonate with readers who were budding equestrians in their youth. Her description of seeing the real Chincoteague ponies after adoring the Misty of Chincoteague books is an especially apt rendering of a childhood disappointment. References to Joni Mitchell and Dionne Warwick place her childhood in the tumultuous late 1960s, a time that contributed additional stresses to her relationship with her conservative parents. Buchanan’s characterizations are a delightful mix of childlike remembrance and adult wit: A Brentwood neighbor in Apartment 502 “ran an import/export business and always kept a box of Strawberry Pop-Tarts on the premises.” Readers who grew up in similar circumstances will especially appreciate this engrossing book, which leaves the audience wanting to know about the author’s next chapter.

A vivid and engaging account of a unique childhood.