"Behold, the story of Sophie Blanchard, an extraordinary woman who is largely forgotten despite her claim to being the very first female pilot in history. In eighteenth-century France, "balloonomania" has fiercely gripped the nation, but all of the pioneering aeronauts are men. The job of breaking that barrier falls to a most unlikely figure: a shy girl from a seaside village who is entirely devoted to her dream of flight. And although she isn't the first woman to ascend in a balloon or the first woman to accompany an aeronaut on a trip, she is--even better--the first woman to climb to the clouds and steer her own course."--Back cover.