Bird's Eye View by Elinor Florence

In this work of historical fiction, a prairie girl eager to escape her family farm joins the war effort as an aerial photo interpreter and locates vital bomb targets while she grapples with her exhausting duties and a disastrous love affair. 

Winning the war was everything…even if it meant losing herself.

Rose Jolliffe is an idealistic young woman living on her Saskatchewan family farm when the Second World War breaks out. Fired with patriotism and eager to escape her rural background, she joins the air force and works with Allied Intelligence in England as an aerial photographic interpreter. With her intimate knowledge of the natural landscape, Rose reveals an uncanny ability to spy on the enemy from the sky, identifying critical bomb targets.

But as the war drags on, Rose becomes disillusioned by the actions of her commanding officer, and despairs over the ongoing destruction witnessed each day through her magnifying glass. When caught in a London bombing raid, her world finally falls apart.

This meticulously researched novel, an instant bestseller, was the first ever to focus on a Canadian woman in uniform. Through the character of Rose Jolliffe, Elinor Florence honoured the wartime contributions of women, and charted Canada’s paralleled path to maturity and emergence from Britain’s long shadow.

Paperback, 416 pages

Expected publication November 10, 2026

 by Simon & Schuster Canada

4/5 stars

This is my third time reading Elinor Florence.  I’ve enjoyed both of her previous books, so was happy to get my hands on this her debut. First published in 2014, it’s being re-released tomorrow. Florence writes Canadian historical fiction, which is a big draw for me. 

Rose Jolliffe has grown up on a farm in Saskatchewan. When World War 2 begins, she is eager to do her part. She’s so determined that she pays her own way to England to join the war effort. It's then she becomes an aerial photo interpreter - studying images of enemy territory to find targets for Allied bombers. It’s important, exhausting work and it doesn’t take long for Rose to learn the true price of war.

This story showed a side of the war that was new to me. I knew a little about some of the roles  women undertook but nothing in this field of photo interpretation, nor how valuable their skills were. Florence brings that world to life. It was both entertaining and educational, the kind of historical fiction that left me wanting to know more.

 Bird’s Eye View is the story of a young woman doing her part in the war effort. It’s about heartache, family and finding the courage to see things through. 

If you enjoy wartime fiction with a Canadian heart, this one is well worth picking up.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for a print copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.