As dark clouds are gathering above Europe, three brave young souls soar higher still. 1938 . At the break of dawn, a two-seater aircraft starts its engine and rolls onto the runway of the Latvian Aerodrome in Riga. In the pilot seat is twenty-one-year-old Miku , a daring young pilot. In front of him is his best friend Mikhail , a Jewish aircraft mechanic, whose dream of becoming an engineer was crushed as antisemitism rose all over Europe. As the dark clouds of World War II gather behind them, the two embark on a daring escape to a destination thousands of miles away. Both have little left to lose… except for their lives. Present day . Mark and Lilly Golber always had a complicated relationship with their father. Before he passed, Michael Golber was a stoic man, a wealthy agriculture mogul who built his empire with the sweat of his brow. Now that he’s gone, the Golber family gathers to hear the last will and testament of their father and grandfather. But when their attorney reveals an old wooden box containing a worn Latvian diary, they have no idea that its contents will change everything they ever knew about their family, their history—and themselves. Perfect for readers of Lily Graham, John Boyne, and Kate Quinn, Above a Gathering Storm is a page-turning tale of love, identity, and the lasting powers of friendship. My father told me that on the eve of the Second World War, a classmate of his at the Jewish school in Riga, immigrated with her family to Sweden - probably due to the Nazis' rise to power in Germany and the anti-Jewish sentiment that was taking shape in Latvia. He and his classmates accompanied her to Spilve Airport, which was then the international airport of Latvia, on the outskirts of Riga.   I decided to visit this airport during my visit to Riga in 2018. I walked along the old runway, trying to imagine what the place looked like eighty years ago. In my mind, the place was bustling with life. I imagined that the noise of airplane engines filled the air; planes took off and landed one after the other, and everything radiated activity. As a pilot license holder myself, I tried to imagine what it was like to be a pilot in those days and what their experiences were like flying the old airplanes of that time. This is how the book was born!