Where do you get your ideas?

That’s a question people often ask, and the answer is usually that someone told me a story. Stories are meant to be told and retold: it’s part of what makes us human. The Endeavour of Elsie Mackay grew out of a couple of stories that my dad, a born storyteller, told me. One day I decided to find out more, and The Endeavour of Elsie Mackay was born.

Elsie Mackay was born into a life of wealth and privilege, but constantly pushed against doors which as a woman were closed to her. She made a brief appearance in my earlier novel, The Paris Peacemakers, at which point she had eloped with an actor, been cut off by her family, and was acting in films under the name Poppy Wyndham. This is all true! But by 1927, when The Endeavour of Elsie Mackay begins, her marriage is over, she has returned to her family and is working as interior designer for her father’s P&O shipping line, but her passion is for the skies.

Flight fever was everywhere in 1927, as Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly the Atlantic, crossing from America to Europe. Elsie’s ambition was twofold. She wanted to be the first woman to fly the Atlantic in either direction, and she wanted to be the first person, along with her co-pilot Captain Hinchliffe, to cross in the much harder east to west direction. The Endeavour of Elsie Mackay tells the story of that flight.

So what of my dad’s stories, which started all this? When he was born in 1928, his parents lived in Ballantrae where his father was doctor to Elsie’s family, the Inchcapes of Glenapp Castle. My dad always said that Elsie’s flight was a huge secret, but that one of the few people who knew in advance was my grandfather, as Elsie consulted him about the medical aspects of the flight.  This rang true when I began researching the flight, and discovered that Elsie had indeed kept her flight completely secret out of fear that her powerful father, Lord Inchcape, would prevent it. Lord Inchcape was later furious with my grandfather, who stood by patient confidentiality.

The other story that my dad told about Elsie was much more personal. My dad’s birth was difficult and ended up taking place in Edinburgh, with the baby not expected to survive. Some time later, Elsie sent her Rolls Royce to drive my infant father and my grandmother home to Ballantrae – his first car journey and, he used to say, the only time in his life he was in a Rolls Royce! This completely rings true with stories of Elsie speeding around Ayrshire in her Rolls Royce and offering help to the local community.

Ten weeks to the day after my dad was born, Elsie set off on her secret flight. Nearly a hundred years later, stories which had been handed down through three generations became The Endeavour of Elsie Mackay.

Stories are meant to be shared.

Click here to learn more about Flora Johnston and her brilliant books!