Shirley Flight, Air Hostess in Storm Warning

My copy of the unwieldily-titled Shirley Flight, Air Hostess in Storm Warning doesn't actually have this cover -- instead the hard cover is prettily patterned with tiny aeroplanes, which caught the eye of my younger daughter in an op shop and made her decide it would be a perfect birthday present for me. It's true, this 1961 book fits beautifully into the oeuvre of girls' career books that were discussed in A Smart Suit and White Gloves, though the Shirley Flight books were sadly not mentioned in it.

After a little digging, I learned that 'Judith Dale,' the author, was actually Edward Reginald Home-Gall, who produced sixteen books in this series, in which Shirley Flight goes to Congo, Spain, China and Hollywood, and tangles with diamond smugglers and the Flying Doctor among many other adventures. Storm Warning sees Shirley's plane downed in Mauritius in response to an impending cyclone. Most of the story centres on Shirley's plucky efforts to secure accommodation for and feed her roster of passengers in a shabby hotel, where of course her charm and ingenuity satisfies even the fussiest 'pax.' The final section of the novel crams in pages of breathless adventure, as Shirley and her 'red-haired pal' Wendy rescue a kidnapped teenager, brave a simultaneous earthquake and cyclone, and foil some 'swarthy' treasure seekers.

Unfortunately the book is marred by some egregious racism, as Mauritius (which to me sounds engagingly diverse) is described in the most unflattering terms as being populated with 'lazy' and 'indolent' persons of various cultural heritages, the names for which I won't repeat here. Even the French hotel proprietor is a purely comic figure, and don't get me started on the sinister Hispanic villains. I suppose at least Storm Warning shows Shirley and Wendy actually doing their jobs as well as pluckily flying into the teeth of storms, climbing cliffs and rescuing victims of abduction.