Lady Icarus, Deborah Noyes
Lady Icarus, Deborah Noyes
List: $14.00 | Sale: $9.80
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Lady Icarus
Balloonomania and the Brief, Bold Life of Sophie Blanchard

Author: Deborah Noyes

Narrator: Suzanne Toren

Unabridged: 3 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/08/2022


Synopsis

A riveting middle-grade biography about Sophie Blanchard, the first woman to work as a professional aeronaut in France in the late 1700s, set against the thrilling backdrop of early flight.

Before Amelia Earhart, there was Sophie Blanchard, the first woman to earn her living in the air. While no one knows the fate of Earhart, a terrified crowd of thousands looked on as French aeronaut Sophie Blanchard met her end in a tragic blaze of glory over the streets of Paris in 1819.

But first, Blanchard made nearly 70 spectacular flights, survived a revolution, and become a court favorite of the emperor Napoleon (who gave her the title, "Aeronaut of the Official Festivals") and later of the King of France. Set against the backdrop of the history of flight, watch as Balloonmania-- a phenomenon that riveted all of Europe--took hold and inspired a great many artists authors, and dreamers.
 
This lively biography introduces a frightened, nervous girl who became a fearless legend in the skies.

About The Author

DEBORAH NOYES is the author of nonfiction and fiction for young readers and adults, including A Hopeful Heart, The Magician and the Spirits, Ten Days a Madwoman, and Tooth & Claw, called "accessible history for younger readers" in a starred review from School Library Journal. You can learn more at deborahnoyes.com and follow her on Twitter @DeborahNoyes.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Laura

Before airplanes were invented, balloons were the first way humans went airborne. Lady Icarus tells the story of early ballooning and the excitement it created around the world. Hot air balloons and hydrogen balloons were not invented until the late 1700s in France. From the start, ballooning captur......more

Goodreads review by Susan

A few years before the French revolution, a girl named Marie Madeleine-Sophie was born to a peasant family. Despite the war, her family's poverty, and the obstacles of gender-inequality, she would grow up to be one of the most famous aeronauts of her generation. I received an Advance Reader Copy of t......more

Goodreads review by Barbara

Although this book's title and cover with a woman standing in the basket of a hot-air balloon are intriguing, its contents are more about the history of flight than about Sophie Blanchard, its presumed subject. While Sophie's story is told here, set against the backdrop of the French Revolution and......more