I really enjoyed Mattie and the Machine. I think part of its appeal is that as a woman studying math in college, I did feel like I had to prove myself.

This novel tells the true story of Margaret Knight, a mechanic and inventor. She starts out the book working as a mechanic at a bag-making factory. But when she learns that the male mechanic – and all the men – are making more than her, simply because they’re men, she confronts the owner.

And a challenge is born. Mattie is challenged to make a new machine that will produce the new square-bottomed bags. But her machine has to do it more quickly than the male mechanic’s machine.

The challenge takes up the first half of the book. Once Mattie has her machine, she’s urged to get a patent. But there are obstacles all along the way, and no one wants to work with a woman. And then she gets betrayed and has to go to court to get credit for her invention.

The storytelling style in this book is old-fashioned and reminds me of books I read when I was a kid, though Mattie is fifteen. It’s a little slow-moving, but I was fascinated by Mattie’s quest to prove herself.

The book closes with a copy of Margaret Knight’s patent. I wish that there was an author’s note about what is fact and what is fiction and what she went on to do with her life. How many more patents did she get? Did she ever marry, and was it to someone who appeared in this novel? For that matter, how many of the characters in the novel were actual people. This book made me want to find a biography of her life to find out how much was true and what this amazing woman went on to do.