Tasting the Wind

Lorie is intrigued when, in the spring of 1967, she discovers her great-grandfather's diary from 1899 in which he writes about meeting Gustave Whitehead, an airplane inventor, along with an article from the New York Herald about Whitehead's early successful flights on August 19, 1901. A Wright Brothers 1903 photo display at her grandmother's house raises questions about who really flew first. Since this discovery could jumpstart her journalistic career, she begins researching Whitehead during her job in an Illinois college library. There, she meets a young black student, Andy, whose uncle had worked with Gustave Whitehead. When Andy invites her to his home in Bridgeport, Connecticut to meet the uncle, she jumps at the chance. Not only does racism rear its ugly head in 1967, but Lorie faces danger from those who would hide knowledge of Whitehead's accomplishments as well as facing injustice as a female writer. A mystery involving one of Whitehead's planes and a little-known contract with the Wright Brothers' Estate tests Lorie's determination to find out more about the early flights. Based on known facts surrounding Gustave Whitehead, this historical mystery both intrigues and raises awareness.