The Lightning Conductor: The Strange Adventures of a Motor-Car

The year is 1903. The automobile is barely five years old, and everywhere Molly Randolph drives her new motor-car, crowds gather to stare, cheer, or flee in terror. An irrepressibly cheerful American, Molly drags her long-suffering aunt Mary and a perpetually depressed chauffeur named Rattray on a chaotic tour of Europe, documenting everything in letters to her father. These letters chronicle mechanical breakdowns, dubious accommodations, and the endless astonishment of Europeans confronted with a woman at the wheel. This is travel writing at its most joyful, fresh and fizzy and utterly of its moment. It is also a quietly radical portrait of female independence: Molly goes where she pleases, answering to no one but her dear "Shiny-headed Angel" back home. For readers who crave gentle adventure, period charm, and the peculiar magic of watching the modern world being born at thirty miles per hour.