John Boyne: On finding that the sky’s the limit

This once curmudgeonly and world-weary traveller has rediscovered the joy of flying. Why, I even found myself clapping as the plane landed

For more than 20 years, since my publishing career began, I’d been lucky enough to travel the world, taking part in literary festivals on every continent.

I recently travelled on something called an ‘aeroplane’. Perhaps you remember them. Long, tube-like inventions that travel through the air and carry human beings from one country to another. Very popular with people from the start of the 20th century until around spring 2020, when they took a little break.

I don’t want to minimise the trauma the pandemic brought into so many people’s lives but, when it started, and before we understood how serious ...