It is 1937 and tensions are high. A spectacular air race around Europe seeks to promote unity among a group of young pilots, but distrust and animosity are rife. The British and sole female contestant, Stella North, is determined to prove not only her skill, but also her identity as her Nansen passport declares her ‘stateless’.
However, barely a few hours in, Stella is witness to a horrifying attack when a contestant’s plane is forced out of the air and crashes. Was this the work of another competitor desperate to win? Was the attack random or premeditated and, most importantly, will it happen again?
With the competition heating up and the death ruled an accident, Stella is left to form her own investigation. Can she find allies among her fellow competitors or will suspicion and deceit bring them all down?

IN A NUTSHELL
‘Stateless‘ is an engaging, exciting, informative novel that worked very well as an historical thriller, scaling up the tension right to the end, but it went further than I’d expected. The descriptions of the flying were very vivid and realistic. The story avoided simple stereotypes. I felt an emotional connection to these young people who did not yet know that they were two years away from a World War that would reshape Europe. It made me see our present generation of European teenagers as being in a similar situation, as I believe that the hybrid war between Russia and the rest of Europe is likely to escalate into a deadly military conflict soon.

I don’t normally read YA historical fiction, but I saw this cover in my local Public Library and couldn’t resist picking it up. I was immediately surprised and impressed by how good it was. I looked ‘Stateless’ up online and saw that it had won. ITW Thriller Award for Young Adult Novel (2024), Crimefest Award (Best Crime Novel for Young Adults) (2024), and the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award (Juvenile/Y.A.) (2024). I downloaded a digital copy from the library and fell into the book.

It starts as a one-young-woman-striving-to-win-against-odds story, framed as a Europe-wide air race, in which young pilots represent their country in a competition intended to promote peace and friendship between nations. 

Almost immediately, it becomes more complicated. Our English Rose heroine, Stella North, isn’t actually English, she’s stateless and she’s not the only young pilot who isn’t who she appears to be. 

Then someone starts killing pilots in the air in incidents that look like accidents. For Stella North, the struggle becomes not one of winning a race for the honour of her host country, but of surviving and helping others to survive the attacks on their lives. Eventually, the book becomes about deciding who to trust with your life. 

‘Stateless’ gave a strong sense of threat from the rise of Fascism, which has some disturbing contemporary echoes.

It got the details right on the places (oddly, I’ve spent time in every city that the competitors go to). I also picked up (and verified as I went along) pieces of history I was ignorant of, for example, the existence of a Nansen Passport specifically for stateless people and the sabotage at the 1929 Women’s Air Derby.

The biggest surprise to me was how deeply I felt the doom of these brave, optimistic young people, all of whom would be exactly the right age to have their lives twisted out of shape by the coming war. It made me wonder whether the present generation of European teens can see the next stage of the war with Russia coming.