Free Air (Fall River Press Edition)

Watched over by her too solid beau, Claire Boltwood lives a life of gracious leisure and nut-centered chocolates among the best of Brooklyn Heights society. Still, she has certain questions about why she’s alive. So when her widowed, plutocrat father is told that he needs rest, Claire convinces him to take a road trip to visit cousins in Seattle. When their spiffy roadster gets stuck in the mud in Minnesota, a local mechanic, Milt Daggett, comes to their rescue. A down-to earth fellow, he nonetheless gives up all to follow her to Seattle, saving her from bears, flat tires, and that solid New York beau.  

With wry humor, Sinclair Lewis satirizes the upper classes and pokes gentle fun at the common folk as well. First serialized in The Saturday Evening Post, this cheerful 1919 novel pays homage to early car travel, the freedom of the (unpaved) road, and that ubiquitous “Free Air" sign at service garages across America.