The Motor Girls on Waters Blue; Or, the Strange Cruise of the Tartar

In 1915, a girl in gloves and goggles climbs down from her automobile, bronzed from a fast autumn drive, and everything changes. Cora Kimball and her friends the Robinson twins are adventurers in an era when women behind steering wheels were still a novelty, still a small rebellion. When Inez arrives with desperate news of her politically imprisoned father, the girls trade their mountain roads for salt water aboard the mysterious ship Tartar, bound for the West Indies and intrigue. What begins as a story about the freedom of motor cars and the joy of speed becomes something richer: a tale of loyalty tested, mystery unraveling, and young women refusing to stay safely at home while the world demands action. Margaret Penrose writes with vivid affection for engines and weather, for the click of an ignition switch and the turn of a propeller. The adventure moves from scenic autumn valleys to tropical waters, carrying questions of justice and courage in its wake. For readers who want to step into a time when a girl driving alone was both daring and delightful.