DO YOU BELIEVE IN BOOKS FOR GIRLS and books for boys? I don’t – at least, that’s what I tell myself. The Dangerous Book for Boys? The Glorious Book for Girls? What gives? It’s possible to look at these books and be outraged – it’s not only possible, it’s happened. WHO SAYS girls don’t want to build treehouses? WHO SAYS boys shouldn’t learn to knit? Somehow, someone ends up being oppressed, and we know that’s not A Good Thing. I don’t think it’s as simple as that; yet will my 7-year-old son dive into a book with a pink cover? I hope so, but I’m not sure.

That’s a stark example, but it came into my mind again as I started to read a new book by Giles Whittell (who, in the spirit of full disclosure, writes for this paper – as does Sarah Vine, of course, co-author of TGBFG). It’s called Spitfire Women of World War II, and it’s the (thrilling) story of the women who flew in the Air Transport Auxiliary, ferrying unarmed aircraft to the men who would fly them into battle – a job just as hair-raising at it sounds, especially since they flew without instruments or radios.

Now, I love this kind of book, by which I mean: true adventure stories, especially ones that involve airplanes. But thinking about it the other day, it occurred it me – rather to my dismay – how glad I was that it had been written by a man. Any man, not just Giles Whittell. Why? Because (and here we stray on to dangerous territory) then it might be easier for these courageous women’s stories to take their place among all the heroic stories of that war (and all wars) rather than remaining, somehow, of “special interest”.

Does that mean that women shouldn’t write such a book? Of course not. Everyone should write every kind of book, and everyone should read every kind of book. Dismayingly, though, this is still not the case. Some years ago I wanted to write a book about The Titanic (this was before the movie came out, I promise) and one note of advice I was given was that I should abandon the project because “women can’t write nonfiction”. Tell that to Antonia Fraser, Dava Sobel, Lyn Macdonald . . . I don’t need to go on. I’m loving Spitfire Women; I’m still discontented with the source of some of my pleasure. Any thoughts?

Spitfire Women of World War II by Giles Whittell, HarperPress, £20. Buy the book for the offer price of £18 inc p&p

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