This was the first time I’d read a book with cycling as its main theme, and I found it both interesting and reasonably entertaining. Especially as it’s about women and cycling in 1890s Germany, an unusual and original subject and one that kept me engaged. Three young women friends each become involved in this new activity and fight prejudice and disapproval to be allowed to partake. There are, of course, difficulties along the way to be overcome, and there is of course a fair amount of romance thrown into the mix, but overall it’s a fun read. However, now let’s talk about the anachronisms. Some of them are the author’s fault, but the translator has done her no favours. I’m not a German speaker, but I’m pretty sure they didn’t say “Are you kidding?” in Berlin in 1890. Nor did young women go on “dates”. And what about this one? “…she wanted to ride in the company of others going forward.” Going forward? Really? I could go on. But what bothered me more were the social anachronisms. The young men and women in the novel are remarkably free to touch each other, grasp hands, fling arms around each other, stroke cheeks, go off unchaperoned. Unless Germany was far more liberal than England, of course. Then there’s the objection to cycling for women, with one young man talking, in mixed company, about the “sexual effects” of cycling, about the sexual stimulation it provides. This far too modern approach I found very off-putting, and although the author may have done her research about the early days of cycling, she seems to have transposed her 19th century women into the 21st century. Nevertheless, the subject matter did keep me reading in spite of my frequent irritation, but I’m not tempted to read the next two books in the trilogy.