“With the same sort of affectionate wit she deployed in Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Simonson directs an unconventional cast through an intrigue-filled summer at an English seaside resort.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Simonson expertly probes cultural tensions hindering her characters’ efforts at post-war reinvention, including the immense human cost of combat, the hypocrisy of letting women work during wartime but not afterward.”—Shelf Awareness
“Simonson knows a good era when she sees one, so Hazelbourne is set in a seaside town just after World War I, with romance and women chafing under the constraints of society after war showed them what is possible when they’re given the chance.”—Parade
“The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club is an absolute joy of a book. Warm and romantic, it also has so much to say about the lives of women in the years following World War I. This is historical fiction of the highest order—pleasurable and smart.”—Ann Napolitano, bestselling author of Hello Beautiful
“I am so in love with the way Helen Simonson writes, how she tells a story. This book is utterly captivating from the first page. With a perfect blend of historical charm, courage, and camaraderie, it takes readers on a riveting journey through a world where the skies are the limit for those brave enough to soar.” —Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
“Written with humor and compassion, it is a delight.” —Pip Williams, bestselling author of The Dictionary of Lost Words
“Haphazard comparisons to Jane Austen are to be immediately regretted, but there’s no getting around it with The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club. If Austen had lived a century later than she did, it feels very much like a book she’d have written. A thoughtful, entertaining novel about women on the brink of great change.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“With cinematic verve and a keen eye for detail, Helen Simonson captures a vibrant group of unconventional women who defy social norms in their determination to forge their own futures. Beautifully written and brimming with charm, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club is both a fizzy escape and a moving portrait of a nation on the cusp of change.”—Christina Baker Kline, New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train
“I was utterly transported and gripped by Simonson’s perfectly rendered story of insiders and outsiders, rebels and underdogs. I was rooting for these resilient characters from the start.” —Carol Rifka Brunt, bestselling author of Tell the Wolves I’m Home
“Simonson delivers a thoughtful and witty tale of British men and women adjusting to a new normal after WWI . . . [she] neatly interweaves multiple plotlines involving the chauvinistic and condescending local gentry, the travails of a German waiter scorned because of his nationality, and the bad behavior of visiting Americans. Readers are in for a treat.”—Publishers Weekly
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