Chesshyre hires Zeke Fowler, a private investigator, to locate Hugo and bring the infant home to safety. In undertaking his investigation, Zeke discovers his employer’s seamy and exploitative side. The investigator also discovers that Peri is not the disturbed femme fatale that she appeared to be, and that there are humane reasons behind her bond with Hugo.

The flying sequences featured throughout When We Have Wings have a vivid, dreamlike intensity. Corbett’s characters are well developed, and she engages with a range of important social issues. These issues include genetic modification, motherhood, and class stratification.

Admittedly, some passages are too polemical for a work of literary fiction. I refer to those moments (many of which appear towards the book’s end) in which characters espouse views about ‘the link between sexuality and fertility’ and the ‘outsourcing of labour and pregnancy to a poorer woman’. Corbett makes some interesting (and provocative) points here, but she could have woven these points into her narrative with more subtlety.

When We Have Wings has its flaws, but it is not a run-of-the-mill fantasy novel. Corbett skilfully depicts a bleak future in which advanced technology only exacerbates social inequalities. The plight of her characters (particularly Peri) is gripping and often moving.

CONTENTS: JULY–AUGUST 2011