Some historical novels arrive dressed as charm pieces, then quietly prove they have a steadier engine underneath. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club sounds like that sort of book to me, light on its feet but not lightweight.
What catches my attention first is the promise of motion. Motorcycles, planes, women refusing to stay where convention parked them, that is already a better premise than most polite period fiction manages. It suggests a novel with energy instead of museum dust.
I also like the possibility that its wit may have some steel in it. The best books in this lane do not simply admire spirited women from a distance. They let those women alter the air around them.
If this one delivers on that promise, it is the sort of historical novel I would happily press into a friend’s hands and say, here, take this for the weekend.
Get your copy: The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club on Amazon