author
Ethellyn Gardner
Best known today for the lively 1906 book "Letters of the Motor Girl," this early 20th-century writer left behind a small but memorable glimpse of girls, cars, and modern life at the dawn of the automobile age.
1 Audiobook
Letters of the Motor Girl
by Ethellyn Gardner
About the author
Very little biographical information about Ethellyn Gardner appears to be widely documented online, which makes her a somewhat mysterious figure today. What can be confirmed is that she wrote Letters of the Motor Girl, a book published in 1906 by The New England News Co.
That novel is an epistolary story told through the letters of a spirited fourteen-year-old girl, and modern catalog and public-domain listings have helped keep it in circulation. The book stands out for its cheerful, energetic voice and for centering a young female character who is excited by automobiles at a moment when car culture still felt brand new.
Because so little verified personal information is readily available, Gardner is remembered mainly through this surviving work rather than through a well-documented life story. Even so, Letters of the Motor Girl gives readers a charming window into early 20th-century popular fiction and changing ideas about independence, technology, and girlhood.