In the free-wheeling Manhattan of 1969, in the shadow of Vietnam, six appealing characters make their way, in love, in work, sometimes in protest. A grieving widow and her daughter are pursued by attractive, not-quite-appropriate men. A lovelorn fi lmmaker secretly woos his best friend's girl. A gay student, about to be drafted, has nightmares about death in combat. A feisty journalist practices un-safe sex and pays a steep price. An anti-War poet risks everything on an ill-fated mission to Hanoi. The novel rests on lively female elements--romance and friendship, clothes, food, sex, (sewing!)- but contains sympathetic male voices and some gritty action as well: a plane crash and jungle rescue, a sit-in turned bloody melee; plus darker threads of sexual obsession and peril. With compassion, humor, and lyrical beauty, the author tells a moving story of trust and redemption, courage in the face of devastating loss, the healing power of companionship and love. "If fiction is the glory of the imagination, this novel shines in its fabulous power. Sweet Kevin, passionate Cilla and Letty, lost and angry Evvie form an American generation that made us who we are today." Nancy Milford, author of Zelda and Savage Beauty Praise for The Flying Circus: "An arresting first novel...Ms. Berges, with her mature and compassionate sensibility, makes one care deeply about her characters, creating reverberations from one's own experiences and illuminating one's own life--the proper function of fiction." The Washington Post EMILY TRAFFORD BERGES taught English, Creative Writing, and Film at New Jersey City University. Her first novel, The Flying Circus, about a family of woman aviators, was published by William Morrow in 1985. She holds degrees from Smith College and New York University and studied with Marguerite Young, Richard Yates and William Goyen at the New School. She lives in Jersey City, New Jersey and Largo, Florida.