Fly Girl: A Memoir

Novelist Hood’s (The Knitting Circle) delightful memoir of her stint as a TWA flight attendant in the late 1970s is full of amusing trivia, hilarious stories, and all the warmth of her novels. The book has plenty of quick anecdotes about strange passengers and happenings on her flights, her training at TWA’s rigorous academy, and her world travels, and the author invites readers to settle in for this journey with her. The memoir demonstrates Hood’s progression as a person, sees her growing into her position and authority as a mature and steady flight attendant, and tracks the advancement (not always for the better) of the airline industry since 1978. She also offers loads of insight into the inner workings of a commercial flight crew, incorporating the experiences of her flight-attendant peers, and analyzes the ads and pop culture references that track the changing image of flight attendants in the late 20th century.