This first novel by Étienne Kern could be translated as The flyers. It tells the story of one would be flyer; Franz Reichelt who jumped from the first stage of the Eiffel Tower wearing a home made parachute on 4 February 1912. It is a mixture of documentary and fiction based on the life of Franz Reichelt who made his living as a tailor. It is a sensitive portrait of a man obsessed by the need to prove to himself and others that he could fabricate the first commercial parachute.

The novel sketches in the early life of Franz before focusing on his small workshop in the centre of Paris. He is Austrian by birth and he speaks french quite poorly and struggles to make a good living. He is supported by his sister and a couple of itinerant workers, He has few friends; preferring to earn his living before thinking of marrying. Kern focuses on the period 1909-1912 - la belle epoch when Paris was in the grip of a craze for aviation and the brave men who dreamt of conquering the skies. The Wright brothers had first got off the ground in 1903 and in 1909 Louis Bliérot had flown across the English channel. Antonio who had previously worked with Franz was successful in the world of haute couture and became obsessed with designing and building his own aeroplane. Like others before him he died in the wreckage of his own contraption. Franz had caught the aviation fever, but he became intent on making a commercial parachute, partly as homage to his friend. The Aero-Club de France was offering a prize of 10,000 francs to the first inventor of a safety parachute for aviators. Franz saw the prize money as a gateway to a new start in life.

The biography of Reichfelt is interspersed with the authors repeated viewing of the surviving short newsreel footage of the unsuccessful attempt in February 1912, when Reichfelt jumped from the Eiffel Tower. Kern thinks about tragedies in his own life. His fathers suicide and the suicide of a friend who jumped from her Parisian apartment: unable to cope with a diagnosis of a terminal illness. These suicides lead the reader to consider if Franz knew he was going to fail? Franz had put himself under incredible pressure to make his parachute, he was a driven man. In addition he had drifted into a love affair with the widow of his friend Antonio, and she had broken off the romance when she discovered what Franz was trying to make a parachute. The climax of the book is Frank Reichelt's last moments before his jump, followed by the authors need to once again examine that old newsreel footage.

It was a cold grey day on 4th February 1912 and the video of the jump is available to view on youtube. Before the jump we see Franz parading with the contraption on his back and later we see him standing on a chair on top of a table so that he can place his foot on the balustrade of the Eiffel tower before he jumps. He seems to have a moment of concern when he lets loose his fabrication and his two helpers encourage him to ensure it is completely unfolded. Kern catches the moment well, but there is more to the book than a simple biography and I rate this short novel of 150 pages as a four star read. ( )