The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West by Sara Ackerman

An exciting page-turner about a fearless female aviator competing in a death-defying race across the Pacific. Brilliantly told... My favorite read this year!" -Andie Newton, USA TODAY bestselling author of A Child for the Reich
This extraordinary novel, inspired by real events, tells the story of a female aviator who defies the odds to embark on a daring air race across the Pacific.
1927. Olivia "Livy" West is a fearless young pilot with a love of adventure. She yearns to cross oceans and travel the skies. When she learns of the Dole Air Race-a high-stakes contest to be the first to make the 2,400 mile Pacific crossing from the West Coast to Hawai'i-she sets her sights on qualifying. But it soon becomes clear that only men will make the cut. In a last-ditch effort to take part, Livy manages to be picked as a navigator for one of the pilots, before setting out on a harrowing journey that some will not survive.
1987. Wren Summers is down to her last dime when she learns she has inherited a remote piece of land on the Big Island with nothing on it but a dilapidated barn and an overgrown mac nut grove. She plans on selling it and using the money to live on, but she is drawn in by the mysterious objects kept in the barn by her late great-uncle-clues to a tragic piece of aviation history lost to time. Determined to find out what really happened all those years ago, Wren enlists the help of residents at a nearby retirement home to uncover Olivia's story piece by piece. What she discovers is more earth-shattering, and closer to home, than she could have ever imagined.