author
Laura Dent Crane
Best remembered for the lively Automobile Girls books, this early 20th-century author wrote fast-moving adventures that mixed road trips, friendship, and a touch of mystery. The series captures the excitement of young women taking to the open road at a moment when the automobile still felt thrillingly new.
6 Audiobooks
The Automobile Girls at Palm Beach; Or, Proving Their Mettle Under Southern Skies
by Laura Dent Crane
The Automobile Girls Along the Hudson; Or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow
by Laura Dent Crane
The Automobile Girls at Washington; Or, Checkmating the Plots of Foreign Spies
by Laura Dent Crane
The Automobile Girls at Newport; Or, Watching the Summer Parade
by Laura Dent Crane
The Automobile Girls at Chicago; Or, Winning Out Against Heavy Odds
by Laura Dent Crane
The Automobile Girls in the Berkshires; Or, The Ghost of Lost Man's Trail
by Laura Dent Crane
About the author
Laura Dent Crane is the name attached to the six-book Automobile Girls series, published between 1910 and 1913 and now widely available through Project Gutenberg. These stories follow a group of adventurous young women through places like Newport, the Berkshires, Chicago, Palm Beach, and Washington, blending travel, suspense, and upbeat friendship in a style aimed at young readers.
Some modern reference sources identify Laura Dent Crane as a pseudonym used by Frank Gee Patchin, a prolific writer of popular series fiction. Because the surviving public information about the name is limited and not fully detailed across standard biographical sources, it is safest to say that Laura Dent Crane is chiefly known today through the Automobile Girls books themselves.
Readers who enjoy vintage girls' adventure fiction often come to these novels for their energetic pace and their period charm. The books offer a window into an era when motoring was still a novelty, and they give their heroines unusual freedom, curiosity, and confidence for the time.