Against a backdrop of the Harlem Renaissance and Haile Selassie's Ethiopia, a young man tails Hubert Julian - a pilot, inventor, adventurer, charlatan, and possible threat to America.
Facing an attempted murder charge, seventeen-year-old Arthur Tormes is in no position to refuse when a federal agent named Riley Triggs offers him a deal: all charges get dropped and Arthur goes free if he agrees to help the Bureau with a problem.
That problem is Hubert Julian, a.k.a. the Black Eagle of Harlem: inventor, pilot, parachutist, daredevil, charlatan, and one of the most extraordinary and popular figures of the Harlem Renaissance. For Triggs, it's the popularity that makes Julian a serious threat to the well-being of America.
To win his freedom, Arthur begins a spying mission that will occupy the next thirteen years of his life, taking him from 1920s New York City to Ethiopia on the verge of war - often at great personal cost. In the end, while America remains safe, Arthur Tormes's fate is less certain.
Against a backdrop of the Harlem Renaissance and Haile Selassie's Ethiopia, a young man tails Hubert Julian - a pilot, inventor, adventurer, charlatan, and possible threat to America.
Facing an attempted murder charge, seventeen-year-old Arthur Tormes is in no position to refuse when a federal agent named Riley Triggs offers him a deal: all charges get dropped and Arthur goes free if he agrees to help the Bureau with a problem.
That problem is Hubert Julian, a.k.a. the Black Eagle of Harlem: inventor, pilot, parachutist, daredevil, charlatan, and one of the most extraordinary and popular figures of the Harlem Renaissance. For Triggs, it's the popularity that makes Julian a serious threat to the well-being of America.
To win his freedom, Arthur begins a spying mission that will occupy the next thirteen years of his life, taking him from 1920s New York City to Ethiopia on the verge of war - often at great personal cost. In the end, while America remains safe, Arthur Tormes's fate is less certain.
Bruce Geddes is the author of one previous novel, The Higher the Monkey Climbs (2018). His short fiction has appeared in the New Quarterly, Blank Spaces Magazine, and the Freshwater Review. Born in Windsor, Ontario, he currently lives in Kingston.
A novel about bootlegging, blackmail, and the struggles of love,
Chasing the Black Eagle is a wide-ranging and compulsive read full
of wonderful characters.
*Dennis Bock, author of Going Home Again*
Geddes has produced a rare feat: the literary page-turner.
*Andrew Kaufman, author of Small Claims*
From Port of Spain to Harlem, to Addis Ababa, Chasing the Black
Eagle takes us on an intimate journey, spanning decades and
exploring intertwined lives. Bruce Geddes is a master storyteller
with an incredible ability to take us to dizzying heights, be it on
the wings of the Black Eagle taking flight or to harrowing truths
found in the underbelly of racism, anti-colonial fights, betrayal,
including the worst of all, when one goes against themselves. A
thoroughly enjoyable encounter of friendship, survival and above
all, the human spirit.
*Chidiogo Akunyili-Parr, author of I Am Because We Are*
Chasing the Black Eagle is a novel that juggles genres — spy, noir,
coming-of-age, romance — with charm, wit and seemingly effortless
grace. Neither self-serious nor sentimental, it's absolutely
charged with lived-in authenticity for a little-known slice of
20th-century history. Don't let this one fly away: Geddes is a
writer who makes history, invented or otherwise, feel as fresh as
this morning, this very minute.
*Spencer Gordon, author of Cosmo*
Blending real and imagined histories, Chasing the Black Eagle is a
sprawling, seductive novel of intrigue, adventure, and secrecy.
Geddes is a first-rate storyteller who has created a dazzling cast
of schemers and dreamers whose failures and triumphs are a comic
and touching testament to the mystery of personal ambition and
identity.
*Anne Perdue, author of She’s a Registered Nurse, Not a Whore*
Takes an obscure corner of aviation history and spins a picaresque
yarn about a couple of unlikely characters, at least one of whom
happens to be real. Pilot Hubert Julian is brave and boastful and
possibly nuts, with a questionable commitment to the truth—in
short, a brutal assignment for the FBI informant forced to follow
him, but for the reader, sparkling company indeed.
*Giles Blunt, author of the John Cardinal series*
Bruce Geddes is a brilliant storyteller, and Chasing The Black
Eagle is an absorbing historical adventure, featuring huge
characters, bracing thrills, and captivating deceptions.
International in range, and epic in scale, this is a fast-moving,
atmospheric novel and, at the same time, the moving story of a
young man’s extraordinary passage to adulthood. You don’t want to
miss the journey; you won’t ever forget the book.
*Damian Tarnopolsky, author of Goya’s Dog*
Geddes dives headlong into history with elegance, authority, and
passion, offering a sweeping view of the 20th century in all its
topsy-turviness while remaining firmly rooted in intimate human
experience. Engrossing, impressive, and a ripping good yarn.
*Rob Benvie, author of Bleeding Light*
An action adventure, a love story and a hard-boiled noir thriller
all rolled up into one. Meticulously researched and artfully paced,
Chasing the Black Eagle is a fascinating glimpse into a bygone era,
introducing the reader to a captivating and complex cultural
figure, Black aviator Hubert Julian. Masterfully adept at metaphor
and possessing an incisive eye for descriptive detail, Geddes
skillfully transports the reader to another time and place brought
vividly to life.
*Shawn Syms, author of Nothing Looks Familiar*
A dazzling novel about a complicated, charismatic historical
figure, the celebrity pilot Hubert Julian. Opening in the 1920s,
Chasing the Black Eagle takes readers on a daring adventure from
the skies of Harlem to the palaces of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
tangling with emperors, secret agents, communists, intrepid
reporters, and mysterious love interests. An evocative tale,
masterfully crafted, told in a singular literary voice that readers
will no doubt be hearing more from.
*Tara Henley, author of Lean Out*
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