Review: Feminist motorcyclists in the early 1900s
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 23, 2012
The beginning wasn't as smooth as it could have been. The sisters, Adelaide and Angeline, are society young women who are also adventurous free-thinking feminists, but it's hard to distinguish them from each other for a while. The first couple of chapters end with diary entries, which alternate between Adelaide and Angeline, but have exactly the same voice. Perhaps, though, this was a proofing error, as once they start on their trip, the diary is kept only by Angeline. Also at first, the diary entries simply repeat that day's activities, providing no new information and therefor no reason to include them. As the book progresses, there is less summary of the day's events and more new observations, which makes the diary a nice touch to add personal observations. Eventually, Adelaids' character becomes distinct from her sister's, but she remains a secondary character throughout the book. Not a complaint, just an observation.So, the plot: Angeline returns home from a Preparedness for War (WWI) meeting. At the meeting, it was mentioned that it might be feasible to have motorbike couriers to carry important defense messages. Angeline, the excitable one, volunteers, but is laughed at. Women aren't suitable to ride motorbikes! Coincidentally, their brother Alan has just purchased an Indian motorcycle.Angeline decides to prove the naysayers wrong and enlists her sister to attempt a cross-country motorbike ride from New York to Los Angeles, on the latest Indian motorcycles. And so begins their adventures (and misadventures).This book is based on a true story, and the author has really done her research. She has the young women come across people who would have been famous in 1916 (or will be); it incorporates some real history of the time. It also shows the predominant attitude towards women in the early 1900s: dressing like a man was scandalous as was cutting one's hair short. Campaigning for womens' rights could end a woman up in jail.Young women nowadays don't know or appreciate the work that women have been doing for at least the past century to improve women's rights. This historical fiction is a step to remedy that. This book can be considered YA but I found it a good adult read too.