Series debut
To Slip the Bonds of Earth is the first book in what looks to be a wonderful series by Amanda Flower, author of the Emily Dickinson mysteries and many other series, featuring an amazing, real-life heroine, Katharine Wright, sister of the Wright Brothers. Katharine was a remarkable woman, an intellectual, a suffragette, and the only college graduate among the Wright siblings. Katharine was very close to her famous brothers, Wilbur and Orville, but while they were brilliant engineers, they never went to college. Their father, a bishop, believed in educating daughters as well as sons, but Wilbur and Orville were largely self-taught, while Katharine graduated from Oberlin College, one of the few co-educational colleges at the time.
There were also two older brothers, Reuchlin, who had moved away from the family, and Lorin, who was married with four children. There is an intriguing suggestion that, if he had been single, Lorin might have shared in his brothers’ discoveries, but he was too occupied with his family. Wilbur and Orville were painfully shy, and never married. Unlike her brothers, Katharine was outgoing and enjoyed social events, and wasn’t afraid to say what she thought.
This novel takes place in the Wrights’ home town of Dayton, Ohio, in December, 1903, just as Orville and Wilbur are making their first flights in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Katharine is, of course, extremely proud of her brothers, and she’s upset when the news about their great discovery is ignored by the newspapers, or not put in correctly. She is managing her brothers’ bicycle shop while they are away, in addition to her full-time job of teaching Latin at a high school. (As a Classics major, I especially appreciated reading about a heroine who’s a Latin teacher.) Katharine is furious when the job of teaching upper-level Greek goes to a male teacher who’s less qualified than she is, just because he’s a man. Also, on the last day of school before the Christmas holidays, she has a spat with one of her students, Benny Shaw, son of the wealthy owner of a paper mill.
When Wilbur and Orville return to Dayton, the Wright siblings are invited to a Christmas party at the Shaws’ house. Katharine doesn’t want to go at first because of what happened with Benny, but her friend Agnes, who wants to impress a young medical student who is one of the guests at the party, convinces her to go, and Orville reluctantly accompanies her. Wilbur, the shyer of the two brothers, stays home. Orville decides to take the plans for their flying machine with him, to look at if he feels bored with the conversation.
Everything goes horribly wrong at the party. Herman Wheeler, who works for the host, Randolph Shaw, at the paper mill, and has ambitions to be his successor, insults Orville. Herman had shown an interest in the flying machine even before the party, at a time when Katharine had thought the news of the historic flight was known only to herself and her family. Then Orville notices that his jacket, with the plans for the flying machine in the pocket, is missing. When he and Katharine go to look for it, they find Herman’s body, stabbed with Orville’s screwdriver (which he had also left in his jacket pocket), and Katharine’s student. Benny Shaw, covered in blood.
The police are quick to arrest Benny, but Katharine believes that her student, although unpleasant, is not capable of murder, and she decides to investigate the crime in order to prove his innocence. Meanwhile, Orville has found his jacket at the scene of the crime, but the plans are still missing. Orville is afraid to tell Wilbur he lost them. Wilbur keeps asking to see them, and Orville always has to make excuses about why he doesn’t have them. The flying machine has not been patented yet–the process takes years–and Katharine and her brothers are afraid that, if someone else gets their hands on the plans, they could claim to have invented the flying machine themselves. But who among the guests would even understand the plans if they saw them? Katharine knows that, when she finds the plans, she will also find the murderer.
Katharine’s investigations lead her to the members of a gentlemen’s club called the Gem City Club, of which most of the prominent men in Dayton are members. This includes the host, Randolph Shaw, the dead man, Herman Wheeler (who was set to succeed Shaw as the president of the club), and Arthur, the medical student Katharine’s friend Agnes is interested in. Wilbur and Orville refuse to join, and their father, the bishop, disapproves of clubs that are not church-related. With the help of Agnes, Katharine obtains an invitation to a dance at the club, which leads to some hilarious scenes. Katharine struggles as Agnes tries to tighten her corset, and then, at the dance, she knocks down a huge Christmas tree.
In spite of the disastrous party, Katharine makes some important discoveries. Many members of the club had motives to kill Herman, since he seems to have been blackmailing everyone. He also knows a secret which could destroy the Shaws’ marriage. Mrs. Shaw, who is Katharine’s colleague in the PTA at her school, is a truly pathetic character. Her husband keeps her drugged so she’ll be obedient. He seems like the prime suspect in the murder, but, of course, it’s never that simple. Benny comes home on bail, which his father paid, more because he’s worried about the embarrassment the accusations against his son will cause than because he believes in Benny’s innocence. Unless Katharine finds the true culprit, her student will be tried for murder.
I admit that I figured out who the murderer was, but there is a twist that I wasn’t expecting. That doesn’t matter, though, because this is a wonderful novel. I loved reading about this fascinating, intelligent, and fiercely independent woman, Katharine Wright. The novel made me want to read some nonfiction about her. I’m told that David McCullough’s The Wright Brothers is an excellent source. I am also looking forward to many more fictional adventures of Katharine Wright. — Vicki Kondelik