LitPick Review
In the early 1900's, a woman does not have the right to vote. She stays at home, cooks and cleans, and only has the value of entertaining her husband. A woman is no more than a pretty face early in history. So what will the men think of the first women motorcycle dispatch riders? To prove to America that women can do it, sisters Angeline and Adelaide Hanson attempt to ride their motorbikes coast-to-coast across the United States. But their ride for rights becomes more challenging than expected when they are arrested, assaulted, abducted, and end up lost in the desert. With a romance tied in between, this historical fiction will bring a fresh perspective on how women felt in 1916 and how determined they were to prove their potential to America.
Opinion:
This novel was quite engaging. Though the plotand setting could have been developed a bit more, it was an interesting read and made the prejudice against women seem very real. I also liked the characters, mostly people the sisters ran into or stayed with on their journey, who were mostly based on real people, with their names only slightly changed. According to the authors note, the sisters themselves are also based on the actual first women dispatch riders (their names slightly changed as well). I believe the author even included the Hanson sisters witnessing Amelia Earhart flying by as a dose of inspiration! I do think the book was fine without the romance between Angeline and the reporter. This part of the story dragged on, I believe. Despite that, this was a well developed historical fiction story, and I couldn't take my eyes off of it. This is one ofthe most adventurous stories I have ever read.
