Set during the glamorous Golden Age of flying, when Pan Am was the gold standard of air travel, Camille Di Maio’s Come Fly With Me explores the friendship of two women from vastly different backgrounds. Both seize the chance to start anew, embracing lives filled with adventure and the opportunity to travel the world.

Di Maio captures the era's charm and quirks, revealing fascinating (and sometimes shocking) details about the time. Can you believe stewardesses were required to weigh in every month? Imagine a company enforcing that today!

Yet no matter how far or fast you travel, escaping your past is never easy—a truth Judy and Beverly come to grapple with. This well-researched novel is a nostalgic, thought-provoking journey that will resonate with many readers.

4.5 stars
Historical fiction set during the jet age? SIGN ME UP! I loved this book and simply could not put it down. A great story of the glamour of the beginnings of air travel and I did learn a lot of things about Pan Am that I did not know before. The power of the friendship between Beverly and Judy was the most compelling part of the novel and something that is still with me days after finishing the book.
I will definitely be recommending this to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC!

Thank you to @netgalley and @LakeUnionPub for this ARC.
1962 - Both Judy and Beverly need a new start in life for completely different reasons. They each sign up to be come stewardesses for Pan Am. With only 1 in 90 making the cut, they had to pass several tests and physical requirements. If they survive, they will be able to see the world! This is such a sweet story and absolutely loved it. The requirements of a stewardess in 1962 were unreal with not only being single but they had weigh-ins before each flight. Pan Am only flying international flights, they served 7 course meals from their small galley. With my love of travel, this book was even better!

Beverly and Judy have very different backgrounds that led them to apply for the position of flight attendant to Pan Am in the 1960’s. Despite their differences, they quickly formed a close friendship that was unbreakable. This was a sweet, but also tragic, story of these young ladies’ fight to make their way in the world. I loved their story, but did find the ending of the book rather abrupt.

The 1960s were the Golden Age of air travel and Pan Am was considered the elite of the airlines - where flyers were pampered, fed fantastic meals and treated like valued guests. Many young women applied for jobs as an airline stewardess for the chance to fly to exotic places and live an exciting life.

We meet two very different women when they are applying for jobs at Pan Am. Beverly comes from a rich family and is used to living the high life in upper society but she wants more out of life. When she applies for a job as a stewardess, her father cuts her off from the family. Judy lives in a small town in Pennsylvania and is trying to find a way to leave her abusive husband. With the help of a friend, she sneaks away in the night to apply for the job. Both women are accepted and become friends. Judy has to keep her marriage a secret because married women are not allowed to become Pan Am stewardess. Beverly keeps her rich family a secret at first because she wants to be judged for herself not for her back ground. The two women room together in training and make a list of places that they want to travel. When they are both assigned to be stationed in California, their friendship grows stronger. Despite their backgrounds being so different, the two women became good friends and encouraged each other when there were problems.

This is a story about female friendships and about women encouraging other women in good and bad times. It's also a look at the comforts of flying (and if you've flown in the last few years, you know how much that has changed). I really enjoyed reading about everything the women had to go through in training and was surprised at some of the rules that they had to follow once they became stewardesses - the perfect hairdo, the same color lipstick and being weighed every month to name a few of the rules.

Be sure to read the Author's notes at the end of the book. She describes the research she did to write the book including talking to women who worked as stewardesses back in the 60s. She also discussed the fact that one of the most difficult parts of the novel was based on a true event.

I really enjoyed this book. The author's writing was interesting and her two main characters were well written and reflected the time period that they lived in. I love reading books about the strength of women's friendships. Once you finish with this book, you'll have Frank Sinatra's song "Come Fly with Me' lingering in your mind.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for trusting me with Clme Fly With Me by Camille Di Maio. I loved this book! In my younger days, I dreamed of being a flight attendant and even interviewed with Eastern Airlines.

This book is the story of Beverly and Judy from very different backgrounds who form a friendship during training to be flight attendants for Pan Am in 1962. At that time Pan Am was THE airline and the training for flight attendants was very strict. what a difference to today.

It’s 1962, and the beginning of aviation travel. Pan American is the elite way to travel, and they’ve just begun hiring stewardesses (using that term as it applied then). Many women apply, but few are chosen or make it through training, as it’s rigorous and demanding. Judy Goodman is fleeing an abusive marriage, and she must keep that marriage a secret, as it’s a strict rule that Pan Am stewardesses must be single. Her father used to play his record Come Fly With Me by Frank Sinatra, and Judy would dream of all the places she wanted to go. Beverly Caldwell is from a wealthy family, but wants more than to be a trophy wife to a successful husband she doesn’t love.

When both women are chosen to be stewardesses, a deep friendship develops between them, and each provides support to the other through turbulent times. They travel to exotic locations, and Beverly helps Judy find her voice and self-worth. And there is romance for the two of them as well. But as much as they try to outrun their past, it eventually catches up to them in a climatic and heart-touching moment.

A peek behind the curtain of how the airline customer service industry started was fascinating, and I enjoyed getting to see these characters grow. My first plane ride was overseas on a Pan Am jet to London, so this was a bit sentimental to me too. I’ve not read anything by this author before, but will be looking for more to read by her. Highly recommend this book - pub date is 2/18/25. Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Lake Union Publishing for an ARC of this book; all opinions are my own.

More like 3.5

I loved the heartwarming female friendship between Judy and Beverly. It’s a relationship you want to keep close and model your own after. Lighter writing that made everything digestible. I loved the twist at the end that you could see was coming but wasn’t sure how it played out exactly.

Nice story and reminded me of how things used to be, but just did not hold my interest The cover was very nice as well

Come Fly With Me is a fictionalized account of two women training and then becoming Pan American stewardesses in the early 1960s. The book sets the stage for their lives beforehand, then details their training, friendships and love lives. There is also “present day” section throughout and then the main character remembers her life in the past. There are real life events and activities peppered throughout. After reading the end notes, the author interviewed a number of women who were stewardesses for Pan Am and their true accounts add a nice texture. The training they endured really sounded interesting for the time.

Never having read any thing by this author before, I found the actual dialogue between characters to be a bit stilted and amateur. The tragedy that is touched on throughout, while ultimately a real event, never really caught me and seemed unnecessary for fictional characters. However the book itself was a pleasant read.

I enjoyed this book and found the story and characters to be real and believable. I particularly liked Joe and his pragmatic approach to Judy's marriage situation and how he went to bat for her with the Pan Am officials. It was clear something was going to happen to Beverly but I felt like her demise came and went rather quickly at the end of the book - maybe it was just because I was enjoying the story and didn't want it to end but the ending felt abrupt. Overall, an interesting glimpse into the stewardess life and how the industry has changed since the '60s.

I really enjoyed this novel, both in how it explored the challenges women faced, but also how the plot twisted and turned and came together at the end. I would definitely recommend this novel.

In 1962 Judy Goodman and Beverly Caldwell decide to interview for stewardess positions with Pan American Airlines. They are young women coming from very different backgrounds. Judy Goodman is married and lives in Red Lion, PA. She is an abused wife and wants and needs to get away from her husband. Beverly Caldwell comes from a wealthy background and lives in New York City. She is bored and discontent with the sameness of her life and the fact that her father wants her to marry a man she is not interested in. They are interviewed and are offered positions with Pan Am. Six weeks later after intense training in Miami, they graduate and start their careers. This book is about friendship, the kind of friendship that will last a lifetime. During their careers, they are not only eager to fly around the world with the airlines, they do. While they meet many passengers they are told not to mingle with them...but that is not easy.

The book is named after the song "Come Fly With Me" that was made popular by Frank Sinatra...quite suitable for this novel. The many descriptions of the landscapes they traveled to have me getting wander lust, especially Tahiti. Never have been there, I could only wish to go! The characters were well developed; the book was an easy read and very enjoyable. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story brings together the start of the jet set era, friendship and romance.

It made me feel that I was living in the early 60's.

An easy read with great characters and a wonderful story line.

It did make me realise that women were objectified in that era and unfortunately still are.

Come Fly with me is a compelling and emotional story of two Pan Am stewardesses from different backgrounds who embark on an adventure of travel, friendship and romance. Impeccable research and a strong sense of time and place, I loved the two female protagonists, their resilience in a world that was slowly changing. One of the best historical novels I have read this year.

Do you have varicose veins? Wear glasses? Weigh more than 130 pounds? Sorry—you would have been out of the running for a coveted stewardess position with Pan Am Airlines. One of my favorite novels of the past year, this book combines a compelling story, interesting facts, and lots of fun between its pages.

It’s the 1960s and Beverly desires something new. She is tired of living life as a society girl and doing what’s expected of her. Judy is running from a horrid marriage. And, by the way, marriage—or a former marriage—disqualifies candidates too.

Both women long to slap on the required Revlon lipstick color and explore the world with Pan Am. As readers rip through this tale of friendship and love, I promise they will hear Frank Sinatra crooning in the background!

Omg this book was one of the best books I have read this year, if I could give it more stars I would. The plot was great and believable it felt like a true story, it told the story of two Pan AM cabin crew in parallel, it was funny, sad, gripping and very moving. The description of the places felt so real you experienced being there yourself. I would highly recommend this book and look forward to another great book by this amazing author. Thank you

Fabulous novel about friends, family, freedom. Judy and Beverly are both running away from something but in doing so they find something else: resilience, grit, independence, connection, and a little bit of romance. My one tiny peeve is that the "PanAm pride" got a bit grating towards the end but this does not detract from a moving story.

In "Come Fly Away with Me," you'll be intoxicated by the allure of air travel during the jet age. Pan Am wasn't just transportation – flying with them was an event dripping with glamour and possibility. The novel transports us to an era when Pan Am stewardesses embodied both sophistication and liberation, their powder-blue uniforms and perfectly coiffed hair becoming symbols of mid-century modern elegance.

Through the intertwining stories of Beverly and Judy, we witness how Pan Am's strict requirements for its stewardesses – young, single, beautiful, educated – created an elite corps of women who became the face of luxury air travel. The airline's exacting standards, while problematic by today's measures, contributed to an aura of exclusivity that made flying Pan Am feel like joining an exclusive club at 35,000 feet.

The novel weaves together the personal liberation these women sought with the broader cultural context of the 1960s. Pan Am stewardesses were among the most traveled women in the world at a time when most women rarely left their hometowns. They served cocktails in the clouds, spoke multiple languages, and navigated international customs - with ease and grace. Their sophisticated image was carefully cultivated – from their white gloves to their ability to serve a perfect omelet – the detail revealed in this book shows the high standards set by jet-age glamour.

What makes this book particularly compelling is its exploration of the paradox these women lived: they were simultaneously symbols of female empowerment and objects of male fantasy. The author doesn't shy away from showing how Pan Am's stewardesses used this duality to their advantage, leveraging their positions to gain independence, travel the world, and escape societal constraints, all while working within a system commodifying their appearance and youth.

The epistolary elements scattered throughout the narrative add mystery and depth, culminating in a revelation that grounds these glamorous heights in stark emotional reality. This literary device effectively demonstrates how beneath the perfectly maintained exterior of Pan Am's golden age lay complex personal stories of ambition, escape, and reinvention.

For anyone fascinated by the romance of air travel's golden age, this novel is a first-class ticket to an era when flying was sexy, sophisticated, and full of promise (there isn't a screaming TSA agent, X-ray machine, cramped coach seat in sight). It reminds us of a time when Pan Am's stewardesses were more than service providers – they were ambassadors of the jet age, representing American glamour and sophistication across the globe. Through its compelling narrative and rich historical detail (seriously, this is a well researched novel), "Come Fly Away with Me" celebrates the allure of that era and the remarkable women who helped define it.

SPECTACULAR!!

I read this spectacular book in less than 24 hours! You should add it to the top of your TBR List immediately! It is a fabulous story of PanAm stewardesses in the 60’s. DiMaio tells a beautiful, heartfelt tale of two women from very different worlds who meet when they first interview to be accepted into Stewardess training. Each is running from something, and they form a friendship for ages. These two make a pact to visit all the places in Frank Sinatra’s song, “Come Fly With Me,” and immediately start developing a plan. As their careers take off, so do their personal lives, and they find the happiness they never dreamed possible.

While reading this book, DiMaio’s writing impressed me. She made me think of the blessings of friendships I have and how much I cherish those relationships. I also thought of the loss of one of my dearest friends and the void I feel in my life without her. Her friendship will forever influence my life (and the lives of the thousands of others she influenced). Come Fly With Me is not to be missed!

Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley gave me a complimentary copy of this book. However, my opinions are entirely my own and uninfluenced.