This is a beautifully written book. The story is based on a real life event. The writing style managed to capture the world so well. The characters were so heart warming I loved them

DNF

An interesting premise but because I stopped reading it, I struggled to get back into it. Please read other reviews which are more knowledgeable about the whole story.

The Aerialists is based on a true story which happened in Cardiff at the Fine Art, Industrial and Maritime Exhibition in 1896. Despite living in Wales I'd not heard of this exhibition, yet the size of it was similar to the world famous Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in 1851.

This is a great premise, but the story overall was slow for meand didn't live up to my expectations, but it's worth reading to find out more about the exhibition and workout giving away spoilers I can't say much more about the plot, but give it a go.

This book sounded really interesting and at first I was interested in where it was going to take me.

However, the time jumps did no favours and ultimately, the real historical events that inspired it were explored in a way that was pretty uninteresting.

I feel like the actual true story could have been adapted to a novel that would have been full of tension. Instead, the story is told by a character who at first promises to be wary of the world around her and knowing, but ends up seeming pretty naive.

There just wasn't enough depth to any of this. I wish it had actually explored the ways women and girls are forced to perform but it really didn't.

My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. I would try another book from this author.

Overall, I enjoyed the historical context and setting of the novel. It touches upon a rarely explored topic in fiction, so I could use this opportunity to learn about women in baloon business. The language, especially in the prologue and epilogue was vivid and showcased the author's talent. I also really liked the cover, which was the first thing that made me notice this novel.

Unfortunately, my main issue with the novel was its main character. It was very hard for me to relate to her or root for her. She was quite plain and boring and didn't have any distinct personality traits. This also made her hard to read about as she was the narrator of the story. Grace was much more interesting, however I can also see the point of not making her the main character of the story. Laura's flatness made also made the central romance uninteresting. Another issue I had with her was that there was no change in her between "Spring" and all subsequent parts of the novel. The narrative of a thirteen year old girl and eighteen year old young woman should't read like the same piece of work, even though she is the same person.

Therefore, I can see the novel's appeal, however, personally, it wasn't entirely my cup of tea.

I was attracted by the blurb and appreciated the well researched and vivid historical background.
Unfortunately if very slow paced and the story didn't keep my attention
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I enjoyed the historical elemement and found the concept of and description of the aerialists qute fascinating. The relationship between Laura and Ena was the clearest in the book, but I was left with many questions about Ena and Auguste. It was never clear whether Grace and Auguste had met before or why Auguste was lying. I must admit I stopped reading and starting skimming pages towards the end. when the story itself deflated like a balloon. I think it's a book of several parts, some more successful than others.

Great book, I loved this read.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

In Paris 1891, Laura is orphaned and living on the streets. She is approached by aerialists Ena and August Gaudron and they soon take her under their wing, teaching her the family business. Five years later they accept an invitation to perform at the Cardiff Exhibition, showing off feats of ballooning and parachuting. One night, a young girl named Grace knocks at the door, desperate to be part of their act. Will she get a chance to fly?

This novel is based around the true story of a girl called Louisa Maud Evans who died during the exhibition, falling 8000 feet into the Bristol Channel in 1896. I generally enjoy historical novels which are based on a true story. The mix of fact and fiction, the way an author weaves the two together to create a narrative is usually my kind of thing. Unfortunately, despite having potential, this novel never really lives up to my expectations.

The pace is just too slow, you get over half way into the book and still nothing has happened. Things pick up slightly when Grace is introduced but not quickly enough. This would be ok if the characters were interesting but sadly, none of them are. Laura is almost a bystander, a passive character who does as she’s told and nothing more. Ena is slightly more interesting as she’s a woman of science, an unusual thing to be in the 1890s. The glimpses of her feminist leanings are nice but are never really allowed to develop.

The fact that we know how Grace’s story ends takes away some of the tension and drama. We know that her flight will end in tragedy. The problem was; is that I didn’t care. We never really got to know her but what we did see, I didn’t care for.

What was interesting is the investigation into the accident and people’s responses to it. A young girl lost her life needlessly as she should never have been up in the balloon in the first place. It highlights how girls were seen as performers and replaceable ones at that.

This could have been an interesting and powerful exploration of young women’s experiences in the performing world, but instead it was a meandering and lacklustre tale which never reached the heights it promised.

Based on true events but didn't really come alive for me. I enjoyed parts of the story but the writing style didn't gel with me. I felt kept at arm's length and I never felt I got to know the characters very well, even the one that was narrating. It was a pretty good story though and if you enjoyed the movie The Aeronauts you may well enjoy this.

I'd like to thank the publishers, HarperCollins, and Netgalley for kindly providing me with an advance release copy, I really appreciate it.

Set at the turn of the twentieth century Laura is an American girl living on the streets of Paris, who is taken in by Ena and August Gaudron. Being aerialists, they introduce her to the world of ballooning and adventure.

Living in Bristol, home to many a hot air balloon, I was excited to read this book. The saying 'all that glitters isn't gold" comes to mind as it showed us a glimpse into the not so glamorous life of hot air balloon maintenance. While it was interesting to read about this particular time period, I found the pace a bit too slow for me. While Laura's story started interesting enough, but her journey with the Gaudrons left more to be desired and her character development was slow. I found myself drifting alot while reading and struggling in the middle.

The book is based on a true event, which I won't say to avoid spoilers, but it seemed a round about way to tell the story. It did leave me interested to learn more about the event which I researched afterwards. I do understand and appreciate the author's intent to bring awareness to a historical event, which I had never heard of.

The Aerialists is a fictionalised account of a true event which happened in Cardiff at the Fine Art, Industrial and Maritime Exhibition in 1896. I was unaware of this exhibition despite it being on a scale to rival England’s Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in 1851. It is such an interesting story but I do not want to give any spoilers here, so I’m keeping my description to a minimum.

At its heart this is a story about Laura, we find out about her journey and what brought her to the streets of Paris and her life with the Gaudrons. The character also serves to tell the fictionalised account of something quite different.

There are characters here like Laura who are entirely fictional, but others are based on real people of the time of the exhibition.

The writing could be tighter in places, there were some points where I began to feel that my attention was wandering and the story was drifting. There were a lot of waffly monologues. In the main this is an engaging story, and the characters intrigued me. I came to feel quite a lot of sympathy for some and wanted to find out what would happen.

I know that life was different for the working classes, as opposed to the middle and upper classes for whom propriety and appearance were important, but at times I felt there was little concession to the Victorian setting, especially in conservative chapel-going Wales. The behaviours and dialogue read as contemporary.

After reading, if you wish to find out more about the real life events behind the novel then I recommend searching for the BBC article published on 24th July 2021, 125 years after the festival.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the historical context as it was something I knew nothing about but will now stay with me for a long time. The writing managed to beautifully capture the excitement of the balloons and the daring of shows mixing fact with fiction to bring the story alive. Most of all though I loved the characters. The characters were written with so much heart and soul that I loved and cared for all of them,

I enjoyed this. I wasn't sure what to expect and initially wasn't really clear what it was really about. There was intrigue about the background of the characters and I was compelled to keep reading to find out more about them. Munnik paints pictures of the scenes in her words and it really drew me in. Towards the end I was kept wondering about what really happened on the fateful day. I was on edge wondering who would be blamed. There was an implication of corruption surrounding the exhibition. I finished the book with several questions unanswered but wonder whether this was the author's intention.

"The Aerialists" by Katie Munnik is a different type of historical novel to me, about a real life tragedy that happened at the Great Exhibition in Cardiff in 1896. The characters are engaging - I was interested in Laura's life and how she was rescued by the Gaudrons from a life of poverty on the streets in Paris. The Gaudrons introduce her to a world of ballooning and aerial stunts, refreshing to read about, compared to the many books written recently about the Barnum style circus life. Ending up in Cardiff for the Great Exhibition, ballooning is big, with shows a couple of times a week. It seems that young women would literally give their right arm to be the next act, and sadly this ends in tragedy.

This was an enjoyable read that was historical fiction that is based on a real event from history. However I hadnt actually heard or read anything about this event before this book so it was a completely new experience for me on something that sounded truly horric and made me want to look up more about the real event of Louise Maud Evans who aged 14 died in a circus stunt that went horribly wrong.
I am fascinated with circuses and love literature and culture surrounded circuses so this was a fascinating read for me, as was the real event although fiction and fact were intertwined in this book it was still a good read.
It was well written with well deveoped characters, that although an often slow burner, pace did pick up as plot tension increased. I would recommend this to historical fiction lovers.

I liked this book. I always like a book based on historical events that I know absolutely nothing about. But I did find that this book was a little bit slow but I think it was just because I wasn't used to the writing style. However it was a good book and I liked the things it taught me.

The Aerialist made me read and research the true events which happened by Louisa Maud Evans, I completely understand why this story would have captured an author's imagination. 14 year old Louisa Maud Evans was a teenager who died in a exhibition which was held in Cardiff in 1896 when she tumbled to her death from 8,000 feet.

In this book we meet young Laura who is living in 1891 Paris, but was born in American. Aerialists Ena and August hear about Laura and a misunderstanding leads them to believe that she is English. Believing this they decide to rescue her and she finds herself on an adventure of a life time, working in the hot air balloon business.

The book skips ahead to the 1896 where the gaudrons family are now living in Cardiff. Here they are invited to take part in the Cardiff exhibition of fine art, industrial and maritime. Show casing the balloon flights and the parachute descents. Then one night a young girl called Grace Perry knocks on their door and begs to learn how to fly. She will do whatever it takes to be on one of those hot air balloon flights and perform at the exhibition's.

Real and invented storylines entwine to create a really dynamic storyline.

It's always good to read a historical novel that is based on a real event.
Once again I'd never heard of this one.
The build up to the event was at times slow, but it gathered momentum as we drew nearer, and there was an almost ticking clock like quality to the event in my head.
Some solid characters, that I liked, and hoped for the best for, which always helps the story along.
Enjoyable.