This debut historical novel takes readers to the time when California is still a new destination, America is extending its global reach, and men and women are taking to the skies. Life changes for the Hartle children when their prosperous parents die suddenly in 1901. Now it's 1908 and the three oldest-Anna, Addison and Purl-have come of age and inherited a considerable inheritance. They're in a hurry to leave their small Ohio village. Anna moves to Los Angeles and is successful in her new profession, but not in her choice of a husband. She experiences challenges she never dreamed of, but luck is on her side when she meets a cousin who founded a small California suburb which she named Hollywood. Addison is drawn to early aviation's inner circle when a friend who works for Glenn Curtiss exposes him to the adventure and risks including Curtiss's conflicts with the Wright brothers. Purl loses his inheritance and joins the army, serving in the Pacific helping to build defenses at little-known Corregidor and Pearl Harbor. He remains torn between returning home to Ohio and never going back.
Despite distance, Anna, Addison, and Purl stay in contact and in each other's lives, caught up in historical events and with characters from Hollywood to Europe and the Pacific Rim. Meet famous film stars, aviators, and American heroes. Our many experiences include watching Roosevelt's Great White Fleet arrive in San Francisco, attending the first international air exhibitions in France and in the United States, visiting the opening of the Beverly Hills Hotel, and meeting a Titanic survivor. The siblings sometimes visit Ohio, but not for long. As Addison often expresses at the end of his letters, they are "Yours in a hurry."