On Falcon's Wings

By Marshall F. Umpleby

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1413732712
• ISBN13: 9781413732719
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Publishamerica Inc
• Length: 394 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.3" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Real and Relevant

If you like historical fiction, you'll love this fast-paced, compelling story about five teen-age boys whose lives take a disastrous turn during the Nazi occupation of Prague. The author very wisely chooses to focus on teenagers whose naive, impulsive, and rebellious nature is in constant tension with the Nazi troops. Their journey reveals the absolute cruelty of war and the psychological domination that occupation gives the occupiers -- not unlike what we've recently witnessed at Abu Ghraib prison. The characters are so real and so beautifully drawn that I became very involved with them. I struggled with them as they weighed the risks of fighting back or submitting. Those who break through the barrier of fear pay a high price as heroes or martyrs. I read the last 125 pages in one sitting because I had to find out how it turned out for the five boys I had become so fond of. This is a five star read -- one you won't soon forget.

Gripping and Insightful

Umpleby's story maintained a strong feeling of tension from beginning to end. It gripped my attention and interest from the very outset and never let go. I was particularly impressed by the keen insights provided of the reality of the human experience of war, of one's copuntry being occupied and dominated by a ruthless foreign power, of the heights and depths of behavior to which otherwise ordinary people can rise or fall. I got so involved with the Czech boys frantic efforts to survive that I nearly screamed out loud to Pavol at times,"No!No!No! Don't do that!!!" It's clearly a five star read for me.

Outstanding story

Marshall Umpleby and I worked together as assistant principals during the 1980's at Burlingame High School. He had a background in teaching English and I considered him an excellent writer. I remember talking with Marshall about his book idea and about my book idea. I had the unusual experience of being an American boy from Boston trapped in a small Tuscan village along the Gothic Line during World War II. I looked forward to reading On Falcon's Wings because the story involved five teenagers in a situation similar to mine. Marshall did an outstanding job researching the topic and presents a vivid story, detailed, and at time gruesome, portraying the futility of war. As I read about the five teenagers I remember that I was almost captured by the SS troops in Tuscany and taken to Germany as a forced laborer. I was stopped by a German patrol and was in the process of being herded on a truck with other Italian boys to be transported to Germany. My mother, bless her soul, intervened and pleaded with the German soldiers not to take me since I was only 13 years old. A friend of mine, named Sandro , who looked older because he had started to shave, was taken and later was wounded in northern Italy. While reading On Falcon's Wings, I realized how lucky I was not to have been captured by the German soldiers and how lucky I was to have survived the war. I realize how fortunate I was to return to the United States in 1946 and resume my life as an American teenager. Some of the Czech teenagers were not so lucky! A must read book for those interested in the World War II saga regarding the survival of oppressed people. Tullio Bertini, Author TRAPPED IN TUSCANY [...]

Review by George D. Klein, author of "Dissensions"

This compelling and gripping novel about five teenagers' lives during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia is hard to put down. Marshall Umpleby is to be congratulated on crafting this novel. The story shows the interconnectedness of five teenage boys and one of their girlfriends who's disparate lives become intertwined almost by accident. One came to Prague from Lidice for medical treatment after being injured by Nazi troops and meets the others. They are part of a church-sponsored wrestling team coached by a partisan. That partisan successfully assassinated General Heidrich, the Nazi overload of Czechoslovakia. The teenagers later witness the death of those partisans. Due to carelessness one evening, all five boys and their girlfriend are arrested by Nazis. The girl is raped and sent home. The boys are bundled on a train for the eastern front and survive a harrowing trip into the Ukraine, although one is killed on the way. In the Ukraine, they escape, although another one is killed. They slowly make their way back to Prague with the help of local farmers and partisans. Another of their group is killed by Nazis. Along the way, they survive heat, cold, dank sewers, polluted rivers and finally make it back to Prague having been smuggled back as 'cargo" by sympathetic partisans. The book ends with the return of the two survivors to grateful relatives. Character development and background scenery is described in an excellent way. Clearly the novel is to be well researched. World War II is now a distant fifty year memory. It is good that Umpleby reminds us how horrible it was and that the Nazis of that day were truly the ultimate "untermenschen". Their sins should never be forgotten.