Elizabeth Wein - Stateless

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright 2023 by Elizabeth Gatland

Cover art: woman Ilina Simeonova; dress Lee Avison/Trevillion Images; map Lukasz Szwaj/Trevillion Images; compass CyrilLutz/Shutterstock.com; hand Butterfly Hunter/Shutterstock.com

Cover design by Neil Swaab and Jenny Kimura

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Interior art: compass DG-Studio/Shutterstock.com; decorative ornament RoseStudio/Shutterstock.com

Map illustration 2023 by Keith Robinson

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Simultaneously published in 2023 by Bloomsbury Publishing in the UK and Penguin Random House Canada

First US Edition: March 2023

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Wein, Elizabeth, author.Title: Stateless / Elizabeth Wein.Description: First US edition. | New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2023. | Summary: Stella North is one of twelve young pilots competing in a 1937 air race meant to promote peace in Europe, but when one of her competitors is sabotaged, Stella races to determine who is capable of murder, and who might be the next victim.Identifiers: LCCN 2022012036 | ISBN 9780316591249 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780316591256 (ebook)Subjects: CYAC: Air pilotsFiction. | ContestsFiction. | SabotageFiction. | MurderFiction. | Novels. lcgft | LCGFT: Historical fiction. | Romance fiction.Classification: LCC PZ7.W4358 St 2023 | DDC [Fic]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022012036

ISBNs: 978-0-316-59124-9 (hardcover), 978-0-316-59125-6 (ebook)

E3-20230203-JV-NF-ORI

Contents

For Elizabeth, still writing at the other end of the table

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N o man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. JOHN DONNE

CIRCUIT OF NATIONS OLYMPICS OF THE AIR 2230 August 1937 THE RACE CONTESTANTS, BY NATION: KINGDOM OF BELGIUM:Master Gaby Dupont, age 17, flying a Tipsy BCZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC (CZECHOSLOVAKIA):Master Ji Jindra, age 17, flying a Bene-Mrz BibiFRENCH REPUBLIC (FRANCE):Master Antoine Robert, age 19, flying a Hanriot 436GERMAN REICH (GERMANY):Second Lieutenant Sebastian Rainer, age 19, flying a Bcker B-131 JungmannKINGDOM OF GREECE:Master Philippos Gekas, age 20, flying an Avro TutorKINGDOM OF ITALY:Master Vittorio Pavesi, age 18, flying a Breda Ba-25KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS:Master Willem van Leer, age 16, flying a Koolhoven FK-46KINGDOM OF NORWAY:Master Erlend Pettersen, age 20, flying a Breda Ba-25REPUBLIC OF POLAND:Sub-Lieutenant Stefan Chudek, age 19, flying an RWD-8KINGDOM OF SWEDEN:Master Torsten Stromberg, age 20, flying a Raab-Katzenstein RK-26 Tigerschwalbe (Tigerswallow)SWISS CONFEDERATION (SWITZERLAND):Master Theodor Vogt, age 18, flying a Bcker B-131 JungmannUNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND:Miss Stella North, age 17, flying an Avro Cadet THE CHAPERONES: DIANA STEPNEY-MILTON, LADY FRITHThe United Kingdom, flying a de Havilland Dragon RapideMAJOR FLORIAN ROSENGARTGermany, flying an Albatros L-75 AceCAPITANO ERNESTO RANZAItaly, flying a Breda Ba-33CAPITAINE MARCEL BAZILLEFrance, flying a Hanriot 436 THE RACE DESTINATIONS, STARTING FROM SALISBURY, ENGLAND (OLD SARUM AIRFIELD): BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (MONT DES BERGERS AIRFIELD, CHARLEROI)GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (COINTRIN AIRPORT)VENICE, ITALY (NICELLI AERODROME, LIDO)PRAGUE, CZECHOSLOVAKIA (RUZYN AERODROME)HAMBURG, GERMANY (HAMBURG AIRPORT)AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS (SCHIPHOL AERODROME)PARIS, FRANCE (LE BOURGET AIRPORT)

Promoting Peace Through Sport Among Our Young People Today

Saturday, 21 AugustMonday, 23 August 1937

I didnt realize those vultures were going to see me as fresh meat until it was too late.

I pulled up to park at the end of the line of visiting aircraft, brought my aeroplane to a stop, and cut the engine. I couldnt start it again without someone swinging the propeller for me.

Its Stella North! I say, chaps, its Britains own North Star, here at last!

The Flying English Rose!

One of the reporters was hatless and without a jacket, his shirtsleeves rolled up, informal and swaggering. May we call you Northie, like your flight instructor?

The moment I took off my goggles and leather flying helmet, the man leaped up onto the lower wing of my borrowed Avro Cadet biplane and leaned into the open cockpit. He grabbed my hand.

Welcome to Old Sarum Airfield! Youre the eighth to arrive! We know youre committed to an exclusive interview with the Daily Comet , but would you mind answering just a few informal questions about Europes first-ever youth air race? How do you feel about being the only girl in the competition? Didnt your guardian give an interview objecting to your participation?

I pulled my hand away with a vicious tug and unclipped my parachute without saying anything.

The hatless reporter laughed. Some kid! Are you sure youre the right person to represent Britain in an international competition?

I pressed my lips together tightly.

I wasnt at all sure.

By sending my application to the flashy and formidable race organizer, Lady Frith, Id deliberately disobeyed my adoptive parents. Aunt Marie was tearful and melodramatic: It would break your dead mothers heart, dirtying your hands and face with engine oil, sleeping in rented rooms with a dozen strange young men all over Europe! Uncle Max played the proud exiled aristocrat: You owe no loyalty to the King of England. As soon as the Bolsheviks are out of power we will go back to Petrograd.

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