Adventures of Miles and Isabel — Tom Gilling

Selected by The New York Times as a Notable Book of the Year, Tom Gilling's novel opens in a crowded playhouse in 1856 Sydney, Australia, where two spectacular lives are about to start. During her scandalous turn as Hamlet, a heavily pregnant (and unmarried) actress unexpectedly goes into labor onstage, shocking the audience. Indeed, one patrician spectator -- who is also with child -- is so moved that she too goes into labor. The babies born that night are Miles and Isabel, two dreamers destined to defy convention -- and gravity. The Adventures of Miles and Isabel is a delightful novel set in rough-and-tumble, turn-of-the-century Sydney. A best-seller in Australia, it follows the strangely converging lives of these two young daredevils. United by a dream of flight -- and true love -- the couple attempts to rise above the obstacles of class and physics that stand in their way.