Releasing on October 3rd, The Woman at the Wheel is an inspiring historical fiction novel is based on the real life of Bertha Benz, whose husband built the first prototype automobile, which eventually evolved into the Mercedes-Benz marque.

Bertha and Carl Benz were undeniably entrepreneurs. Carl’s vision of creating a horseless carriage at a time when many were yet to trust the steam train was radical. However, it was Bertha who took the pluckiest, first entrepreneurial step when she negotiated a deal with her father, allowing her to invest her dowry and inheritance in Carl’s idea before they married. From there on, Bertha worked alongside Carl behind the scenes to design, build and promote the Benz motorwagen, which became the world’s first commercially viable automobile. For the most part, only her husband knew the extent of her understanding of innovation, business, partnerships, investment, public relations, and market perception. Bertha’s intuition, coupled with her technical and fiduciary knowledge, made her the ideal partner for Carl, whose primary strengths were his engineering brilliance and resourcefulness as an inventor.

An early reader of The Woman at the Wheel was struck by how many of the challenges encountered by the Benzs in Germany in the 1800s prevail today. “Every modern day, entrepreneurial start-up needs a Bertha in their team. Her story is full of great lessons,” he said.

It’s rewarding to hear that Bertha’s legacy is not only fascinating and encouraging, but also useful. She isn’t the only female entrepreneur who has inspired historical fiction. Here are some other intriguing works of historical fiction based on the lives of real female entrepreneurs.

A Beautiful Rival by Gill Paul

Cosmetic tycoons, Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein created the global beauty industry at a time when women were expected to be content with the roles of wives and mothers and the use of make-up was considered improper. Independently, they created potions, lotions and salon treatments, which burgeoned in popularity and made them both millionaires. However, the women were lifelong rivals, each making decisions based on what the other did. A Beautiful Rival is fascinating with almost as many entrepreneurial “how to” as “how not to” lessons.

Carolina Built by Kianna Alexander

Josephine N. Leary was born into slavery in North Carolina in 1856. She trained as a barber. However, when she was freed in the mid-1870s, Josephine set out to learn how to manage money and make shrewd investments in the real estate market. By 1881, she’d acquired six properties in Edenton and, when a fire destroyed some of them, successfully rebuilt the premises, affirming her place as an astute real estate magnate. Carolina Built not only highlights key entrepreneurial qualities but also demonstrates the challenges of maintaining a work-family life balance as an entrepreneur.

The Chanel Sisters by Judithe Little

Written from Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s less famous sister, Antoinette’s perspective, The Chanel Sisters is arguably a handbook to perseverance, independence, and survival. Coco and Antoinette were taken in by Catholic nuns when their mother died and no one—not even their father—wanted them. Eventually, they set out to prove themselves worthy to a society that never welcomed them. Their journey was neither easy nor straightforward, but the sisters were determined, creative and resourceful. The Chanel Sisters reminds us that there are many twists and turns to entrepreneurial success.

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley

Based on the life of Dorothy “Doll” Kirwan Thomas, Island Queen tells the extraordinary story of the woman who began her life as a slave and went on to create a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, planter, merchant, and hotelier across the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a luxury hotel in Demerara, South America. Among Doll’s most impressive entrepreneurial qualities were her courage and ability to work the system and retain her autonomy against all odds.

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki

Although Marjorie Merriweather Post inherited a company from her father when she was twenty-seven, it was her drive and entrepreneurial approach that saw the food company grow into the giant General Foods Corporation. She was inspired by guidelines successful entrepreneurs understand: learn all you can, think for yourself, never take success for granted, know your customers, and work hard. The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post also emphasizes the value of entrepreneurs understanding their business better than anyone else.

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher

Risk-taking is fundamental to entrepreneurship. The Paris Bookseller is an inspiring account of American bookseller Sylvia Beach, who faced jeopardy head on when she opened Shakespeare and Company in Paris in 1919. Not only was it dicey to establish an English bookstore and lending library in France, but when James Joyce’s controversial novel Ulysses was banned, Sylvia took the huge risk of publishing it. The success of the book came with costs, which mounted with the onset of the Depression and the departure from Paris of throngs of English readers. Aside of risk-taking, Sylvia’s entrepreneurship was also demonstrated by her passion for books, authors and readers, knowledge about her market and Paris, and willingness to support others in her industry.

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Gill Paul’s novel, The Manhattan Girls, is about Dorothy Parker and three friends navigating life, love and careers in 1920s New York City.

When Dorothy Parker uttered one of her gaspingly funny witticisms round the Algonquin Round Table, it would inevitably be reported by her columnist friends in the following morning’s newspaper. But if she’d been on Twitter, it would have reached her followers instantly – and she would surely have had a following in the millions. Her concise one-liners fit neatly into the 140 characters allowed, and have the exact combination of cynicism and dark humor along with a serious message that make Tweets go viral. “If you want to know what God thought of money, just look at the people he gave it to.” How many public figures could that be applied to today? Trump? Elon Musk? The Kardashians? Choose your pick.

Dorothy was born in 1893, but her attitudes were remarkably modern. She abhorred racism, hypocrisy, intolerance, and injustice. In an era when sodomy was illegal in the US and would remain so for many more decades, she had loads of gay friends, saying “Heterosexuality is not normal, it’s just common”. She campaigned against fascism and declared of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee hearings: “For Heaven’s sake, children, Fascism isn’t coming – it’s here. It’s dreadful. Stop it!” You can bet that, were she alive today, she would have strong views on transgender rights, gun control, the killing of black men by police officers, the storming of the Capitol Building, and much more besides. She didn’t shy from controversy, but tended to dive in head-first.

Expressing strong views on social media comes at a cost, though, with trolls, vitriol, even threats of rape, mutilation and death, increasingly common. On a good day, Dorothy could shut down anyone who argued with her – “I find her anecdotes more efficacious than sheep-counting, rain on a tin roof, or alanol tablets” – but she struggled with depression, and social media firestorms have taken their toll on the mental health of many a sleb. Would she have had the sense to take a break from Twitter when she was feeling vulnerable? Or would she have gone online after a few whiskeys and drunk-Tweeted herself into a deeper hole?

Dorothy loved clothes and liked to look pretty, so she would probably have been annoyed to be tagged in less than flattering photos. She might have had an Instagram account, although I can imagine her being brutally scathing about those who subscribed to selfie culture: “Their pooled emotions wouldn’t fill a teaspoon”. It seems likely her beloved terriers would have featured more frequently than her new hats. She wasn’t an expert with technology, telling friends she couldn’t change her own typewriter ribbons, so editing a TikTok video would have been beyond her (as it is me).

I think Dorothy would have had a personal Facebook account where she could chat to her friends, just as she did when she wandered into the Algonquin’s Rose Room. Chewing the fat with other writers is a great distraction from the actual hard work of writing: “I hate writing, I love having written.” She was prone being indiscreet with the secrets of others, and could stab friends in the back when the mood took her – “That woman speaks eighteen languages and can’t say ‘No’ in any of them” – but I doubt she would have found herself blocked on Facebook by those she skewered. They’d have been far too eager to hear what she had to say next.

Twenty-first century fans have opened social media accounts in Dorothy Parker’s name but none have captured her unique mix of genius, cynicism, and fragility. The last of these is what would worry me if Dorothy were online: she was too fragile. She drank heavily from the mid 1920s till the end of her life – “I am not a writer with a drinking problem,” she claimed, “I’m a drinker with a writing problem” – and attempted suicide at least three times. Personally, I’m glad she was spared the appalling price of fame in the modern age – the building up of celebrities by the press only to knock them down again, the doorstepping, the stalkers, the paps.

Dorothy left a wonderful legacy in her published writing, and also in the example of her life. She was one of the first generation of women to earn their own money, to rent their own apartments, and to take lovers as men do, while staying true to her moral and political principles and campaigning for what she believed in. She helped to define her era and to push forward the boundaries, so I’m glad she lived when she did. But there’s no doubt she would have been the wittiest person on Twitter.

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