What a great story! Admittedly, I did skim over the paragraphs that were very mechanical because, as we all know I am not mechanically inclined… at all.
So take that technical stuff out and we have the story of Bertha who meets, loves and marries someone who considers her an equal… mostly. Carl is a fascinating character, as I for whatever reason imagine all inventors would be.
This book shows highs and lows, family friends and enemies of the Benz family as they work together toward Carl’s goal.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an opportunity to read this early in exchange for an honest review.

This historical novel looks into a topic I haven’t read before - the first automobile. Although possibly not my favorite subject matter, this was well written and engrossing. I’ve read this author’s other books and will continue to anticipate her next ones. I will say her subject matter has been diverse so far. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Woman At The Wheel is an inspiring historical fiction based on the life of Cäcilie Bertha Ringer, known as Bertha Benz. Set in Pforzheim, Germany, the story follows Bertha from her childhood fascination with her father's work as a master builder to her pivotal role in creating the first prototype automobile, which later evolved into the prestigious Mercedes-Benz marque.

Bertha's aspirations are haunted by her father's hurtful words, "Unfortunately, only a girl again," but fate changes when she meets Carl Benz, a dreamer set on building a horseless carriage. Despite others' skepticism, Bertha wholeheartedly invests her dowry in Carl's daring project.

As the narrative unfolds, we witness Bertha's unwavering faith in Carl and her determination to safeguard their dreams. When Carl's partners threaten to withdraw support, she faces the challenge of preserving their life's work. Bertha devises a daring scheme that could prove their brilliance or invite ridicule.

Woman At The Wheel pays tribute to the countless women who lived in the shadows of accomplished partners. Penny Haw skillfully portrays Bertha's significance in automotive history, leaving readers inspired by her unwavering pursuit of dreams and enduring impact.

Author Penny Haw shines a light on Bertha Benz, celebrating her remarkable contributions and rightfully securing her place in history's annals. Woman At The Wheel is a compelling testament to an extraordinary woman and her lasting legacy.

The Woman at the Wheel imagines the story of Bertha Benz, whose husband built the first prototype automobile, which eventually evolved into the Mercedes-Benz marque. She lived in the shadow of her husband. This story celebrates her contribution to his success.

Second half of 19th century. From a young age, Bertha Ringer is fascinated by her father’s work as a master builder in Pforzheim, Germany.

Bertha is bored with every man her mother tries to push her way until she meets Carl Benz. Despite her mother’s skepticism, Bertha is fascinated with his idea of the horseless carriage. His old clothes don’t scare her. It’s his mind that fascinates her.

The storytelling beautifully exposes his passion and his drive, and her strong believe in him. Her belief is so strong that she invests her dowry and inheritance in him. The path to success is not easy and meanwhile they need to make a living. They work as equal partners. They invent components for carriages, farming equipment, buildings, furniture and various other things to improve other’s work in producing higher quantities.

There are many hurdles on their journey. The new improved equipment is not cheap, it’s not easy to convince the buyer and see the vision of rising production. With each partner, his shares dwindle, and after a while each partnership fails until he becomes an outsider in his own company. With growing family, he needs to figure out how to support them and support his dream of horseless carriage.

The vivid imagination and the contrast in time periods create memorable scenes. Bertha’s mother had her dreams, but creating a horseless carriage is pretty much ridiculous. There are many others who see it as something foolish. To be against such skepticism, one must have an extraordinary drive to achieve such goal. But there is one partner, Bertha, that is not only his strongest supporter, but also is the driving force to his success. Despite the ridicule, resistance, and ever-dwindling resources, they persist with experimenting with the design.

It’s amazing to be witnessing the account of such extraordinary journey, to witness first hand such grit and determination of achieving something most couldn’t even imagine.

Spellbinding.

The title of this book caught my attention first. The Woman At The Wheel. It is a historical fiction based on the lives and partnership of Carl and Bertha Benz. Bertha is a strong-willed, intelligent and determined wife and mother. She is part business partner and cheerleader for her husband. Together, the make a great team. The family experienced a lot of ups and downs, but Bertha kept the family on a positive note. The author did a wonderful job of setting eqch scene. The dialogues between the characters clearly llustrated the emotional ups and downs of starting a business. It is a great read and I definitely recommend The Woman At The Wheel.

The Woman at the Wheel is a love story, though sometimes it feels like a one-sided one. Revolving around the love and affection Bertha Benz bore for her husband Carl, it is also the story of a woman who comes into her own and is made. While Penny Haw does ignore some aspect of Benz’s legacy, the overall tale is well-researched and the story of Bertha’s life well-delivered.

German society girl Cäcilie Bertha Ringer is painfully aware of how harshly her gender confines her. She is forever haunted by the legend placed beside her name in the family bible: "Unfortunately, only a girl again." Though she adores her father and wants to take part in his business and get to invent great mechanical things too, she knows her place is to marry - and marry well - and thus she finds herself on the market.

She becomes enchanted with Carl Benz, a man with a dream and a steam engine. Carl has an idea for a horseless carriage, and Bertha has the affection for gadgetry which will help push his ideas to new heights. Their marriage means that Bertha will get to continue to work with machinery, with her husband’s approval. She is his sounding board, improving his ideas as they go along. But Carl is a fumbling businessman, and he keeps making poor choices – which is tough for Bertha, as she’s invested her dowry in this enterprise. Eventually it’s up to her – and a daring cross-country ride, taken with the assistance of her teenage sons – to prove that Carl’s invention is safe and worthwhile.

The Woman at the Wheel is a finely researched piece with a solid central love story that manages to capture the time in which it’s set beautifully. Bertha is a determined, driven woman. She becomes a tough cookie as the book progresses, which is fun to track.

Carl is somewhat less enjoyable as a person due to his pessimistic nature and bitter point of view. As Bertha states, he makes his own mistakes and becomes his own worst enemy.

The period research here is excellent, and the book makes for a fine slab of historical fiction overall, although I wish Haw had acknowledged Bertha’s later-in-life support of Nazism (for which Hitler in turn praised her in his propaganda), and reckoned a bit with the complicated legacy she left behind. Instead she is treated as an unvarnished, enterprising inventor when that wasn’t all she did. (I did not detract points for this, naturally.)

But if you’re fascinated with automotive history, curious about it’s pioneering women or are just looking for a solid story of a tough-minded woman, you’ll likely enjoy The Woman at the Wheel.

This is a fascinating book about one of the many strong women in history whose stories should be told. Bertha Benz is married to Carl Benz an inventor of the automobile or "motorwagon." She's an equal partner of her brilliant, quirky husband, often giving him great ideas on how to make their business a success. I really enjoyed the novel. Bertha's relationships with her husband, family, children, and friends are well told and the book moves along at a quick pace...unlike the early cars. The dogs in the book are minor stars and the author's love of animals shows through. .

Watching Carl Benz work on designs for the first automobile through the eyes of his wife, Bertha Benz, is fascinating and, at times, frustrating. Carl fumbles and gets taken advantage of so many times as he attempts to create businesses with partners and investors that I found myself contemplating skipping to the end, when I knew Bertha would make her famous road trip. I hung in there as she worked in the shop alongside her husband, intervened when she could head off financial disasters, and gave the guy a charming family. Her only loyal friends through it all were her dogs.

The sheer amount of events covered in this book is impressive, thought here were points when I wondered if every failure needed to be part of the story. This is a story mostly of disappointment until the last 2-3 chapters. Those last chapters are exciting and the pace picks up.

First of all, can we talk about that gorgeous cover?! I love it so much. The premise also drew me in right away. I really enjoy stories of the women behind the man we've all heard of. What a terrific idea to feature the Benz family! I did not know anything about Carl or Bertha before I started reading. Once I started reading, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

I really enjoyed reading about how Bertha's suggestions and ideas shaped the evolution of Carl's design, and how he (at times) treated her almost like an equal, even during this time period.

The author has clearly done her research, but it never gets in the way of the story. This is a truly engaging read.

I found the premise of this story to be very interesting. I loved learning about how Benz built his first car, and the support that came from a wife who in many ways was non-traditional. This book did feel a little bit slow at times, buT I still enjoyed the overall story.

This book was so good! This is the story of Bertha Benz, and how she helped her husband Carl Benz invent a horseless carriage. She was such a strong woman, and she always stood behind him. Even though her father had thought she "was just a girl," he had taught her a lot about business She used this knowledge to help her family and keep them going even though hard times. Even though she took care of a home and raised children, she wanted more. I liked how the author involved the children and made them a part of this discovery. The book was very well written and made me feel like I was there. It was great, and I want to read more by this author!

Historical fiction at its finest! I was fascinated by this story from the very start. 19th century Germany brings us the story of Bertha Benz, wife to Carl Benz, who built the first prototype Mercedes-Benz. The first horseless carriage if you will.
As the saying goes, the man is the head and the woman is the neck. This applies wholeheartedly in The Woman at the Wheel. Bertha, born Cäcilie Bertha Ringer, grows up following the Intricacies. of her brilliant businessman father. She comes across the writing of notes of herself and her siblings' births in his Bible. Next to her name reads "Unfortunately, only a girl again." This sentiment sparked a fire in Bertha.
Fast forward to 1869, where Bertha meets Carl Benz and his boneshaker, think bicycle. Bertha thinks to herself that a wider seat would surely be more comfortable. A thought that foreshadows the future for reshaping how her suggestions would ultimately be an influence, motivation, and cheerleader for Carl. Bertha enjoyed working on drawings and designs with Carl. "It filled me with joy and anticipation," she says and though she was only a girl, she could participate.
This was a fascinating, almost behind-the-scenes story, of how she worked with her husband, partner, and equal Carl Benz, who built the first prototype automobile Mercedes-Benz. Historical fiction enthusiasts, especially those interested in cars and inventions will love The Woman at the Wheel. It reads more like a journal entry and I learned more than I ever knew about the history of cars.
Make sure you read the Author's Note at the end - this was possibly my favorite and most enlightening piece of this book. An excellent, informative read!

The Woman at the Wheel
Penny Haw
Pub Date: October 3, 2023
Sourcebooks Landmark
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
This book was an inspiring historical fiction based on the real life of Bertha Benz, whose husband built the first prototype automobile, which eventually evolved into the Mercedes-Benz marque.
This book was well written and so very interesting. Loved Haws pages of notes to give context and further reading to her story.
5 stars

As Bertha Ringer grows up in mid 19th Century Germany, she is increasingly fascinated by the world around her and how it works. She often begs her beloved father to allow her to accompany him on his building business meetings. She eagerly asks him to explain his thoughts and decisions, so it comes as an utter surprise to read in the family bible, next to her birth name and date, 'Unfortunately, only a girl again'. She becomes deflated and dismayed to learn that her life as a girl may not only have been a disappointment but that she may not, in fact, be able to lead the life she would like. However, a chance encounter with Carl Benz soon changes her reluctance to marry as she recognises a unique and kindred spirit, 'I recognized a fire in you. One that burns in me too. I want to be with you so that our fires can burn together.' Bertha believes in Carl and believes in the horseless carriage he yearns to develop - she even puts her money on it being the way of the future. Life with an inventor isn't easy. Together, they weather decades of setbacks, disappointments, and broken promises, while trying to grow a family. 'Only one person stayed next to me in the little ship of life in the days when sinking was approaching. That was my wife. Brave and courageous, she hoisted new sails of hope and support at a time when no one else believed in the dream.'

Penny Haw brings to us, 'The Woman at the Wheel' both as a story and oftentimes in reality. I enjoyed reading the story of the Benz Motorwagen and I loved that the woman behind the man, behind the brand, the anchor point of the invention, was brought to life so she could be fully appreciated for her contribution to history. Haw also includes pages of notes to give context and further reading to her story, which I fully appreciated. I heartily recommend this book to any historical fiction lover who enjoys reading 'herstory'.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read and review this book.