Trajectory

A Sydney Taylor Honor Book, perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah and Sharon Cameron, this is the stirring and dramatic story of one young woman who must find a way to overcome her deepest fears in order to unlock the secret that will help America and the Allies to victory as World War II rages on.

Seventeen-year-old Eleanor is nothing like her hero Eleanor Roosevelt. She is timid and all together uncertain that she has much to offer the world. And as World War II rages overseas, Eleanor is consumed with worry for her Jewish relatives in Europe. When a chance encounter proves her to be a one-in-a-generation math whiz--a fact she has worked hard all her life to hide--Eleanor gets recruited by the US Army and entrusted with the ultimate challenge: to fine-tune a top-secret weapon that will help America defeat its enemies in World War II and secure the world’s freedom. This could be her chance to help save her family in Poland.

Soon, she’s swept from the basement of an Ivy League engineering school, to the desert of California, to an Army Air Corps base at Pearl Harbor, and finally she takes to the skies above the South Pacific.

But before she can solve this complicated problem, she must learn to unlock a bigger mystery: herself.

Critically acclaimed author of The Poetry of Secrets, Cambria Gordon weaves an extraordinary story of remarkable courage and the will to unearth our deepest secrets, based on previously undiscovered true events.

Advance praise for Trajectory:

A Sydney Taylor Honor Book

"Cambria Gordon''s careful attention to setting and detail brings an unknown and surprising history vividly to life—and draws thought-provoking parallels to the present." —Amanda McCrina, author of Traitor and The Silent Unseen

"Hidden Figures meets Code Name Verity in Trajectory, a richly detailed historical novel about Eleanor, a gifted female mathematician under pressure to get the results of her calculations right at the height of World War II. With members of her own Jewish family suffering a terrible fate in Europe, Eleanor is determined to make a difference—even if it means facing her fears head-on. I couldn’t put this down!” —Kip Wilson, award-winning author of White Rose and The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin

“Well-paced and immersive, Trajectory takes readers on an exciting journey from Philadelphia to the California desert to the skies over the Pacific theater in the Second World War. Equally powerful is Eleanor’s journey from timid high school senior hiding her math ability to problem solver unafraid to stand up to superiors and skeptics in pursuit of the Allies’ victory. Gordon’s novel honors the long-ignored women who helped make that victory happen.” —Lyn Miller-Lachmann, author of Torch, winner of the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for YA Literature.