PARIS AT THE APEX OF ITS GLORY IS THE BACKDROP FOR  ED LEEFELDT’S STUNNING LITERARY NOVEL THAT CAPTURES THE CITY OF LIGHT AT ITS BRIGHTEST AND MOST ALLURING;

The Woman Who Rode the Wind HAS TAKEN OFF WITH INDUSTRY INSIDERS;

Nearly three decades before Amelia Earhart captured the imagination of anyone who ever dared to soar, a little-known heroine named Harriet Quimby made aviation history. The first female in America to earn a pilot’s license, she not only conquered the skies, but redefined the possibilities for women in a male-dominated era. Though her fame was fleeting and her name is now an obscure footnote, the spirit of her legacy lives on as the inspiration for award-winning journalist Ed Leefeldt’s literary novel, The Woman Who Rode the Wind.

“I had become fascinated with those who tried to conquer the air.  There was an innocence about them, a belief that they could make life better for their fellow man.  They became my inspiration, especially the little-known aviatrix Harriet Quimby, America’s first woman aviator who lived life on her own terms,” stated Leefeldt.

In this richly authentic historical novel set in turn-of-the-century Paris, Leefeldt honors aviation’s earliest adventurers; fearless pioneers of the clouds like Harriet, who were a breed apart.  When a wealthy industrialist offers a prize of one million francs to the first person to circle the Eiffel Tower in a flying machine, it sparks an international competition that pits European powers France and Germany against each other, and in turn against the young colossus across the Atlantic, America.  One woman becomes the unlikely heroine who discovers that her destiny is entwined with this new world of flight waiting to be born.  The Woman Who Rode the Wind brings to life the romance and intrigue that defined the City of Light during the Belle Époque.

Meticulously researched by one of the most respected and critically acclaimed investigative reporters, it provides an unusual glimpse into the souls of aviation’s indomitable dreamers; the men and women who captured the imagination of the World as they reached for the stars and awakened a new instrument of destruction.

“I discovered that writers are kin to these early pioneers of flight.  Each time we write it’s like stepping off the edge of a cliff with a pair of wings, not knowing if we’ll fly, or fall.  We breathe life into our heroes, but they inspire us.  They give us courage, we give them humanity,” said Leefeldt.

The Woman Who Rode the Wind has taken off with industry insiders. Look for Ed Leefeldt at air shows, aviation museums, ballooning events, bookstores, libraries and other diverse venues.