Pioneer aviator
Ruth Law, born in Lynn in 1887, dreamed of flying. Even after she watched Harriet Quimby, the nation’s first licensed female pilot, fall to her death in 1912 during an air show in Squantum, she held on to her dream. When the Wright brothers refused to give her flying lessons, she found another way. She learned to fly at the Saugus Race Track and got her pilot’s license.
After Law tired of making loops in the sky with her plane, she decided to fly from Chicago to New York City. The new picture book “Fearless Flyer: Ruth Law and Her Flying Machine’’ (Calkins Creek), illustrated by Raúl Colón, chronicles the journey. Lexington author Heather Lang quotes extensively from the diary of Law, who prided herself on her knowledge of airplane mechanics. “When your engine suddenly stops while you’re 2,000 feet in the air, it’s some comfort to know that if anything can be done, you can do it,’’ Law wrote. Touching down in Hornell, N.Y., she had flown 512 miles — the new American nonstop record. The next day she finished her flight in Manhattan. Thousands were there to cheer her accomplishment and President Woodrow Wilson honored her at a dinner in New York.
Turning books into movies
One of the newest books by a Boston author to make it to film is “All We Had’’ (Scribner), Annie Weatherwax’s 2014 debut novel about a mother and daughter struggling with poverty. Katie Holmes is making her directorial debut with the film in which she is also starring. It will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in April.
Weatherwax will join two other authors on Thursday at a panel discussion, “Soon to be a Major Motion Picture: Authors Discuss Journey from Page to Screen.’’ Dick Lehr is coauthor of “Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil’s Deal’’ (PublicAffairs). The film version, released in 2015, stars Johnny Depp. Mitchell Zuckoff is coauthor of “13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi’’ (Twelve). The film version was released earlier this year. Larry Lindner, coordinator of the Boston Literary District, will moderate.
The session is 6 to 8 p.m. at the Boston Center for Adult Education. The cost is $15, with a post-discussion wine and cheese reception.
Mining historical figures
How does an author transform history into fiction? Three novelists will discuss the process on April 7 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston. Biographer Megan Marshall will moderate “BioFictions — Turning ‘Real’ People into Fictional Characters.’’
Geraldine Brooks has mined the lives of Louisa May Alcott for “March’’ (Penguin) and of King David for “The Secret Chord’’ (Viking). Matthew Pearl’s novels include “The Dante Club’’ (Random House), set in 19th-century Cambridge among the Fireside Poets, “The Last Dickens’’ (Random House), “The Poe Shadow’’ (Random House), and, most recently, “The Last Bookaneer’’ (Penguin), featuring Robert Louis Stevenson. Alice Hoffman’s newest novel, “The Marriage of Opposites’’ (Simon & Schuster), draws on the story of Impressionist painter Camille Pissaro’s mother, Rachel Pomié.
To register for the free event, e-mail seminars@masshist.org.
Coming out
¦“The Taxidermist’s Daughter’’by Kate Mosse (Morrow)
¦ “Journey to Munich: A Maisie Dobbs Novel’’ by Jacqueline Winspear (Harper)
¦ “Lust & Wonder: A Memoir’’ by Augusten Burroughs (St. Martin’s)
Pick of the Week
Judy Manzo of Book Ends in Winchester recommends “Sisi: Empress on Her Own’’ by Allison Pataki (Dial): “I am always drawn to historical fiction and Pataki’s latest epic, about Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary, fondly known as Sisi, the ‘fairy queen,’ is another page-turner. Readers will travel through the mid-19th century in Vienna and Budapest with love affairs, loss, and the downfall of many European monarchies as the First World War looms ahead.’’
Jan Gardner can be reached at JanLGardner@yahoo.com.
