“The Woman at the Wheel” is a historical novel about Bertha Benz, the business partner, investor and wife of automobile inventor Carl Benz. (Contributed Photo)

Bertha Benz — now I know who paved the way for my love of road trips.

In “The Woman at the Wheel,” author Penny Haw has woven a remarkable tale about Bertha (Binger) Benz, a forward-thinking woman who not only shared her engineering husband Carl’s passion for developing a “horseless carriage,” but was the first woman to drive it.

And, the first person ever to take a road trip. Which she did without anyone’s permission — not even her husband’s.

This historical fiction novel is set in Germany, and follows Bertha’s life from about age 10 in 1850 to her infamous and daring motor journey on Aug. 5, 1888.

An independent, ahead-of-her-time gal, Bertha, the third of nine children, had always been intrigued with technology and innovation. However, in those days, such ideas and ideals — not to mention higher education — were virtually forbidden to women, who were expected to just marry the “right man,” bear children and follow their husband’s interests and pursuits.

What set Bertha apart is that she wanted to marry someone who shared HER interests.

She met Carl, a broke machine worker, by chance on a group picnic excursion. Drawn to his futuristic plans, she married him. Over the years, she encouraged and worked alongside him through the grit and grease of many failures and financial setbacks until the wheels of their dream were finally in motion.

So it was, in 1886, that the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first internal combustion engine vehicle, was patented. And everyone lived happily ever after — people bought cars, horses got a break and Carl Benz got rich. Right?

Not even close.

While Carl was a brilliant inventor, he was apparently lousy at marketing. So, to ignite publicity, Bertha took matters (specifically the steering lever) into her own hands and, with their two older sons, drove the new three-wheeled “motorwagen” on an unauthorized and illegal 65-mile trip from Mannheim to her parents’ home in Pforzheim.

The 12-hour trek was fraught with obstacles such as rough, hilly terrain and frightened, jeering onlookers. And a few breakdowns, too, during which Bertha unclogged a fuel line with a hairpin and wrapped a spark plug wire with her garter.

That did it. The attention garnered by Bertha and her daring road trip accelerated interest in motorized transportation and vehicle production.

In “The Woman at the Wheel,” Penny Haw does a great job of blending factual information with speculation.

She does include a lot of technical lingo about valves, pistons, rods, etc., which some readers might find boring. With an automotive expertise level of about zero, I didn’t understand one bit of it. I wouldn’t even know where to find a fuel line or spark plug wire. But I didn’t gloss over it either. It only endeared me more to the knowledge and passion Bertha must have shared with Carl.

In my opinion, this also isn’t just a “woman behind the man” story. Their accomplishment was born out of sheer teamwork — Carl’s expertise and Bertha’s determination. Neither would have gone far without the other.

Bertha’s role in motorized history has only come to light in recent years. In 2008, the Bertha Benz Memorial Route in Germany was established. A German movie, “Carl and Bertha,” was released in 2011.

And in 2019, to mark her 170th birthday, Mercedes-Benz released a 4-minute film, “The Journey That Changed Everything.”

And now, whenever I get behind the wheel, I’ll think of Bertha Benz, “the woman at the wheel.”