Local historian Robert Lynch has made it an even dozen, releasing his twelfth book at a well-received launch in the Carnegie Arts & Visitor Centre earlier this month. Titled Flight Into The Past, Lynch was assisted by Erie Migration student Calla Miehl-Marentette in putting this piece of historical fiction together.
Asked about his inspiration for his latest book, Lynch said, “I wanted to do something about time travel. I had to find a way to send someone to the past. I thought about using flight and a forbidden place for my main character’s time travel.”
The book’s protagonist is a young man named Pascal who hails from Southampton, Ontario, and develops a love of flying from his involvement with the town’s air cadets. Pascal decides to take a gap year in his schooling and goes to France by request of his grandfather to help him build a biplane. While in France, Pascal flies the newly built plane, runs into some very mysterious circumstances, and finds himself unexpectedly engaged in a fight with a German aerial adversary as the book begins to take flight.
With Lynch incorporating French love interests in his book, he decided to get some assistance with the language. “ I needed help with some of the French expressions and went to the high school to ask for help from a student. They suggested Calla Miehl-Marentette, a grade nine student at Erie Migration.”
Miehl-Marentette not only helped with the translations, but ended up being a bigger part of the book than she
had first expected.
“I got sick and went to the hospital,” said Lynch. “But I wanted the book to be finished and handwrote 22 pages at the hospital. I asked Calla if she could transpose my writing into text. She asked if she could make some corrections and additions, and of course I said yes.”
The cover art for Flight Into The Past was another way that Lynch involved the talents of Kingsville’s youth as he hired Erie Migration student Ayden Laverdiere to sketch the French-style biplane found on the front of his latest book.
As far as a demographic for this novella, Lynch indicated that kids in high school with an interest in history would likely find an appeal with his 190 page publication and added, “It’s a light story, a quick read, and the early feedback I’ve gotten has been favourable.”
Always thinking about his next book, Lynch is looking at doing a book about Kingsville’s music scene, specifically about its former stage and marching bands. He politely asks any of our readers for old photos of bands that he can incorporate into his new book.
For those that may want to purchase Flight Into The Past, copies can be found at Carnegie Arts & Visitor Centre or Lynch can be contacted at robertlynchauthor@gmail.com or at 519-733-5586.
