Books: Gripping Queen Of The Air A Real-Life Water ForElephants QUEEN OF THE AIR By Dean N.</p><p> Jensen $26.00 hardcover Crown An unattractive cover is the only flaw in this otherwise thoroughly gripping, melodramatic true story of one of the most famous circus performers of all time.</p><p> Queen Of The Airbegins with a family on hard times that reluctantly allows its little daughter to go away on tour throughout Latin America with a traveling circus.</p><p> She is abused by the owner yet rises to become one of the greatest acts in the world.</p><p> But she's not the star of this story.</p><p> Her daughter from that rape turns into a prodigy of prodigies called Leitzel, the Queen Of The Air.</p><p> Among the many unlikely events that pepper this true story: the mother iswracked with guilt that she had to ignore her children for her career but is insanely jealouswhen the little girl almost immediately outshines her.</p><p> Leitzel leaps from success tosuccess with her dazzling skill as an aerialist and is soon the top attraction at the biggestcircus in the world.</p><p> There a young nobody in the circus falls in love with her.</p><p> That teenage boy Alfredo gets to smooch with Leitzel but she's really only dallying with him.</p><p> They both marry others but Alfredo is determined to become worthy of her...andturns into a member of the Flying Codona Brothers, ultimately becoming perhaps the firstman in history to regularly perform the literally death-defying triple somersault whiletraveling at 60 miles per hour.</p><p> More than a decade later and now world famous himself,Alfredo reunites with the woman he always loved.</p><p> She loves him too and they get married.</p><p> But she loves fame ever so slightly more and is too used to flitting from lover to loverfor the jealous Alfredo's taste.</p><p> Romance, high society, passion, disdain, celebrity, money, madness, bold gambles, tragicfailures -- it's all here in a tale that you would scoff at if it weren't true.</p><p> A real life Water For Elephants is the inevitable comparison for Queen Of The Air.</p><p> Author Dean N.</p><p> Jensen took literally decades to tell this story right; everyone he initially interviewed is dead now.</p><p> It was worth the wait.</p><p> The result is one of the most improbable and entertaining books of the year.</p><p> You can find more great picks and all the top releases of the week at BookFilter.com.</p><p> It features the top picks of the week from every category chosen by the BookFilter staff.</p><p> Then you can go to top picks in every category, like mystery and romance and sci-fi and sports and cookbooks and you name it.</p><p> If you're a more casual reader, you can look at the cream of the crop by checking out the top picks for the month or season.</p><p> If you're crazy about books, you can check out all the releases under anycategory you want.</p><p> It's all there at BookFilter.com.May 9, 2014 This is the print preview: Back to normal view » Posted: 06/14/2013 3:23 pmThanks for reading.</p><p> Michael Giltz is the founder and CEO of BookFilter, a book lover's best friend.</p><p> It's a website that lets you browse for books online the way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal recommendations every step of the way.</p><p> It's like a fall book preview or holidaygift guide -- but every week in every category.</p><p> He's also the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests.</p><p> It'savailable for free on iTunes.</p><p> Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.</p><p> Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.</p><p> Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.</p><p> Note : Michael Giltz is provided with free advance copies of books and final copies so he can consider them for review.</p><p> He receives many more books than he could ever possibly cover.</p><p> Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
