Yvonne Caputo

At 10, she thought Dad's bite was worse than his bark. At 20, they fought about race. At 60, she struggled to talk with him about what mattered. In 2008, when it was almost too late, one phone call changed everything. Flying With Dad is the true story of a daughter, a father, and how his stories of World War II bridged their worlds. As a father, Michael Caputo could be distant and brusque. Growing up, Yvonne and her siblings had a roof over their heads and food on the table. But what Yvonne wanted was a deeper connection with her Dad. In Flying With Dad, Yvonne Caputo charts her journey to her father through the re-telling of why he went from repairing to flying planes, how heavy German flak led to post-war nightmares, and why he suffered guilt over one particular bombing run. As she learned to meet him where he was, instead of where she wanted him to be, the result was an intimacy, a deep abiding respect, and a no-regrets final goodbye. Even after his death, Yvonne’s relationship with this ordinary and extraordinary man continues to blossom: in the milky vapor trails in the sky, the blooms of the Christmas Cactus, and the Blue Jay that appears just as she thinks of another question she’d like to ask her dad. A DAUGHTER. A FATHER. AND THE HIDDEN GIFTS IN HIS STORIES FROM WORLD WAR II.