A magical novel about a life transformed by the desire to fly.

Set in the late nineteenth century, Tom Gilling's novel tells the tale of Miles McGinty, a young man who decides to learn how to fly. We meet an entrancing cast of characters: among them an enigmatic fellow who earns his living through levitation tricks; Eliza, Miles's grandly theatrical mother; and Mr Windsor, a light-fingered pedagogue who likes to meddle in the affairs of others. But Miles McGinty is also a love story that takes flight when Miles meets Isabel McCauley, a clever, sceptical girl determined to prove her own destiny.

Miles McGinty will delight fans of Tom Gilling's debut novel The Sooterkin which became a New York Times Notable Book, and announced the arrival of a powerful and beguiling new writer.

'A novel that combines history and fantasy in a fluent, witty manner that never seems to strain for effect but constantly surprises with its twists of plot and subplot.' Weekend Australian