This year marks the 25th anniversary of Jane Mendelsohn's debut novel, I Was Amelia Earhart, which gives a fictionalized account of what happened to Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan after their 1937 disappearance near New Guinea during their attempt to fly around the world. Mendelsohn imagines the pair crash-landing on a desert island, where they struggle to survive the elements and each others' company. Meanwhile Mendelsohn explores Earhart's life through flashbacks, from her lofty childhood ambitions to her marriage with publisher and author G.P. Putnam. I Was Amelia Earhart spent 14 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was shortlisted for the 1997 Orange Prize for Fiction, with Mendelsohn receiving praise for her poetic prose and the book's mythic, fable-like qualities.
Mendelsohn is also author of the novels Innocence (2000), a gothic horror coming-of-age story about a teenage girl whose mother dies; American Music (2010), about an Iraq War vet with PTSD who connects with a therapist via strange visions; and Burning Down the House (2016), which follows a rich New York real estate family. I Was Amelia Earhart is available from Vintage ($14). --Tobias Mutter
