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Katharine, the Wright sister  Cover Image Book Book

Katharine, the Wright sister / Tracey Enerson Wood.

Summary:

"She helped her brothers soar... but was the flight worth the fall? It all started with two boys and a bicycle shop. Wilbur and Orville Wright, both unsuited to college and disinclined to leave home, jumped on the popular new fad of bicycle riding and opened a shop in Dayton, Ohio. Repairing and selling soon led to tinkering and building as the brothers offered improved models to their eager customers. Amid their success, a new dream began to take shape. Engineers across the world were puzzling over how to build a powered flying machine--and Wilbur and Orville wanted in on the challenge. But their younger sister, Katharine, knew they couldn't do it without her. The three siblings made a pact: the three of them would solve the problem of human flight. As her brothers obsessed over blueprints and risked life and limb testing new models on the sand beaches of North Carolina, Katharine became the mastermind behind the scenes of their inventions. She sourced materials, managed communications, and kept Wilbur and Orville focused on their goal--even when it seemed hopeless. And in 1903, the Wright brothers made the first controlled, sustained flight of humankind. What followed was the kind of fame and fortune the Wrights had never imagined. The siblings traveled the world to demonstrate their invention, trained other pilots, and built new machines that could fly higher and farther. But at the height of their success, tragedy wrenched the Wright family apart... and forced Katharine to make an impossible choice that would haunt her for the rest of her life."--Publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781728257877
  • Physical Description: 434 pages ; 24 cm
  • Publisher: Naperville, Illinois : Sourcebooks Landmark, [2024]

Content descriptions

General Note:
Includes reading group guide.
Subject: Haskell, Katharine Wright, 1874-1929 > Fiction.
Wright, Orville, 1871-1948 > Fiction.
Wright, Wilbur, 1867-1912 > Fiction.
Genre: Biographical fiction.

Available copies

  • 9 of 11 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Vanderhoof Public Library.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 11 total copies.
Show All Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Holdable? Status Due Date
Vanderhoof Public Library AF WOO (Text) 35193000437105 Adult Fiction Volume hold Available -

  • Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2024 August #1
    The Wright brothers' famous flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903 is well-known, but Orville and Wilbur's sister Katharine's key contribution to their success remains largely unrecognized. In Wood's (The President's Wife, 2023) fourth novel, the Wright siblings set out to achieve flight, inspired by childhood memories of watching geese take off from a lake. Katharine manages the family bicycle business and works as a teacher, allowing her brothers to focus on engineering and innovation. Sacrificing her own dreams of home and family to support them, she contributed vital design elements and helped build models for wind-tunnel trials. Once the Wrights achieve flight, patent wars ensue, and the family faces trials and triumphs in securing the future of their technology. When Katharine finally feels free to choose her own path, her family's trust in her choices is put to the test. Wood perfectly captures turn-of-the-century innovation, invention, and progress. With glimpses of true early twentieth-century events, her book will delight fans of historical fiction featuring a strong female protagonist. Copyright 2024 Booklist Reviews.
  • Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2024 July #4

    Wood's charming latest (after The President's Wife) highlights the contributions Katharine Wright (1874–1929) made to her brothers' innovations in aviation. Katharine, brazen and spunky, supports her older siblings Orville and Wilbur's fascination with manned flying machines, suggesting they invent planes in the back of their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. After their mother dies, she keeps house for the family, and though her brothers never finish high school, she graduates from Oberlin and becomes a teacher. She puts her prospects for marriage on hold to help her brothers design the aircraft by studying bird anatomy and recommending fabric for the wings, and she helps write a letter to the Smithsonian asking for information about flying machines. She even identifies Kitty Hawk as the perfect spot to test their plane. Over the years, she makes more sacrifices, as when she gives up her teaching job to nurse Orville after a devastating accident. Told from the points of view of Orville, Wilbur, and Katharine, the lengthy story breezes by with heart and verve. Well-researched depictions of historical events and immersive period details round out this stirring tribute to an unsung trailblazer. It's a gripping tale of perseverance. Agent: Lucy Cleland, Kneerim & Williams. (Sept.)

    Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly.

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