Advanced Reader's Copy: Expected publish date is listed as Jan 15 2013 by Random House Publishing Group, under the imprint of Delacorte Press 
 This is not the first time out of the box for Melanie Benjamin, and it shows in every line. 
 "The Aviator's Wife" is a wonderfully drawn character exploration of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who's accomplishments are mostly dwarfed by those of her famous husband and the tragic loss of her eldest child. I honestly was not aware that Anne Morrow was a pilot and navigator in her own right, as well as a published author... sadly her husband still overshadows her, even in death. 
 But this is no dry history enumerating the exploits of a lady. We start out meeting Anne as a shy Smith co-ed typical of her times. Her concerns are simple ones, marriage, exams, matters of dress and the social niceties required of an up-and-coming politician's daughter. They morph after an incredulously abbreviated courtship into that of a young wife- pleasing her husband, but a husband like no other. I somehow doubt there has ever been a husband who required his pretty socialite wife learn to navigate via sextant! 
 Then the infamous kidnapping, destroying everything past, and the world is never the same, but continues nonetheless. And yet somehow it is the root of a long slow change from that pretty socialite into first the lonely but accepting forgotten wife, and finally, at last into a woman shed of society's bonds, living life on her own terms. 
 I had not experienced Benjamin's work before, but I will most certainly be picking up her previous novels. Her prose is gracious and poised, perfectly reflecting the era and setting of an age where women went to college in order to educate them enough to be able to have entertaining conversations, not careers. She portrays the social mores of the time without judgement or bias... something that perhaps will be misconstrued by some as condoning them, and I strongly urge my fellow feminists to keep that in mind. I consider it a must-read for the twenty-something crowd, whom I sometimes feel need the reminder of how far women's rights have actually come, if only to show them that the changes still needed can be accomplished, and within our lifetimes. 
 This one is destined to shoot to the top of every book club's list within hours of its release, and it deserves just that. 
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