The Wright Sister

 

An epistolary novel of historical fiction that imagines the life of Katharine Wright and her relationship with her famous brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright.

On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the world’s first airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, establishing the Wright Brothers as world-renowned pioneers of flight. Known to far fewer people was their whip-smart and well-educated sister Katharine, a suffragette and early feminist.

After Wilbur passed away, Katharine lived with and took care of her increasingly reclusive brother Orville, who often turned to his more confident and supportive sister to help him through fame and fortune. But when Katharine became engaged to their mutual friend, Harry Haskell, Orville felt abandoned and betrayed. He smashed a pitcher of flowers against a wall and refused to attend the wedding or speak to Katharine or Harry. As the years went on, the siblings grew further and further apart.

In The Wright Sister, Patty Dann wonderfully imagines the blossoming of Katharine, revealed in her “Marriage Diary”—in which she emerges as a frank, vibrant, intellectually and socially engaged, sexually active woman coming into her own—and her one-sided correspondence with her estranged brother as she hopes to repair their fractured relationship. Even though she pictures “Orv” throwing her letters away, Katharine cannot contain her joie de vivre, her love of married life, her strong advocacy of the suffragette cause, or her abiding affection for her stubborn sibling as she fondly recalls their shared life.

An inspiring and poignant chronicle of feminism, family, and forgiveness, The Wright Sister is an unforgettable portrait of a woman, a sister of inventors, who found a way to reinvent herself.

My Review

I am familiar with The Wright Brothers but not really familiar with Katharine. This book is told through a series of letters by Katharine to her brother, Orville. The Wright Brothers are what helped me with my inspiration in aviation.

After reading this book, I found another of the Wrights that I did like. Katharine was a good voice of this book. The further I got into the book; the more connected I became towards her. Although, in this case, I was turned off by Orville. Ok, so I understand he was hurt by his sister marrying his best friend but I felt like he carried the grudge on too long. In fact, he acted like a child. If not for his sister, he really would be lost. 

While, I did enjoy reading this book; I found it to read both fast and slow. Fast because the chapters were short and the overall page count of this book is on the shorter length. Slow because there was not a lot happening. It was really one sided...Katharine's. Overall, I did find this book to still be an enjoyable read.