I am pleased to welcome talented author Tara Chevrestt to the Girls Succeed Blog. I read her historical fiction book, Ride for Rights, and loved it so much I invited her to tell us the story behind the inspiration for the story that takes place in 1916.
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| Historical fiction |
Back Cover:
In the summer of 1916 women do not have the right to vote, let alone be motorcycle dispatch riders. Two sisters, Angeline and Adelaide Hanson are determined to prove to the world that not only are women capable of riding motorbikes, but they can ride motorbikes across the United States. Alone.
From a dance hall in Chicago to a jail cell in Dodge City, love and trouble both follow Angeline and Adelaide on the dirt roads across the United States. The sisters shout their triumph from Pike’s Peak only to end up lost in the Salt Lake desert.
Will they make it to their goal of Los Angeles or will too many mishaps prevent them from reaching their destination and thus, hinder their desire to prove that women can do it?
The Story Behind the Ride for Rights by Tara Chevrestt
In
the fall of 2010, my husband and I took a vacation to South Dakota and of
course, we had to hit the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum. (My husband is a biker
through and through.)
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| Adeline VanBuren |
While browsing this ultra cool museum (that I originally
didn't want to go to as I wanted to walk thru a Victorian house instead!), I
came across some information about two fascinating "biker chics" in
American history, Augusta and Adeline Van Buren. Here is their website: Van Buren
Sisters Website
In 1916, these remarkable sisters
decided to ride their motorbikes from New York to Los Angeles. Keep in mind,
the highway system had not yet been built... They donned trousers, jumped on
their Indians, and they rode to prove that women could be motorcycle dispatch
riders.
The real-life women went from Buffalo to Chicago to Omaha
to Denver, up Pike's Peak, to Salt Lake, Reno, Sacramento, San Francisco, Los
Angeles, and San Diego.
I was excited by this information and I rushed to find my
husband and I said to him, "I am gonna find a book on them as soon as I
get back to my laptop!" And I did search for a book on them and much to my
dismay, I didn't find one. And so I said, "I'm gonna write one!" This
is how Ride was born.
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| Augusta VanBuren |
In Ride for Rights, a
fiction novel loosely based on the amazing Van Buren sisters, Angeline and
Adelaide Hanson undergo a similar journey (with different twists and
turns) as they travel from Buffalo to Detroit... to Chicago where they are
dance hall girls for a night... to Peoria, Illinois... to St. Louis where they
join a touring Suffrage movement to Kansas City where they have a run in with
some unfriendly fellows. From Kansas City, the Hanson's head to Dodge and they
have problems with the local sheriff. See, women didn't wear trousers much back
then....
Like the real Van Burens, Angeline and Adelaide summit
Pike's Peak. The real sisters did this ride only weeks after the road was
opened.
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| Glen Eyrie Castle |
The Ride for Rights sisters
spend some down time in a castle called Glen Eyrie and then head on to the Salt
Lake desert where they get lost... and oh somebody finds them... but is it
really a rescuer??
I don't wish to reveal too much of the story so I'm
stopping here, but I cannot stress to everyone enough...check out the real Van
Buren sisters’ website. It's truly amazing what the real women accomplished.
They are now in the AMA Hall of Fame and the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum Hall of
Fame.
Bob Van Buren, a descendant of the Van Buren sisters,
says, "Although Ms. Chevrestt’s creative tale of these two women is purely
fictional, she has accurately captured the spirit and challenges that the Van
Buren sisters experienced in their journey in 1916."
I can't possibly express my joy and gratitude to have a
descendant of those amazing women say something like that about my work.
Please note once again that Ride is a work of fiction and though I used
the real life sisters' ride as a basis, everything that happens to the Hansons
is a figment of my imagination. An author's note in the back of the novel
separates all facts from fiction.
Blurb:
In the
summer of 1916 women do not have the right to vote, let alone be motorcycle
dispatch riders. Two sisters, Angeline and Adelaide Hanson are determined to
prove to the world that not only are women capable of riding motorbikes, but
they can ride motorbikes across the United States. Alone.
From a dance
hall in Chicago to a jail cell in Dodge City, love and trouble both follow
Angeline and Adelaide on the dirt roads across the United States. The sisters
shout their triumph from Pike’s Peak only to end up lost in the Salt Lake desert.
Will they
make it to their goal of Los Angeles or will too many mishaps prevent them from
reaching their destination and thus, hinder their desire to prove that women
can do it?
***
Tara Chevrestt is a deaf woman, former aviation mechanic, dog
mom, writer, and editor. You’ll never see her without her Kindle or a book
within reach. As a child, she would often take a flashlight under the covers to
finish the recent Nancy Drew novel when she was supposed to be sleeping.
Tara is addicted to Law
& Order: SVU, has a crush on Cary Grant, laughs at her own jokes, and
is constantly modifying
recipes and experimenting in the kitchen. She writes about strong women facing obstacles—in the military, with their handicaps, or just learning to accept themselves. Her heroines can stand alone and take care of themselves, but they often find love in the process.
