Josephine and Her Dishwashing Machine

Kate Hannigan tells the story of inventor Josephine Cochrane, born in 1839 and living in a time when married women could not own property or sign legal documents without permission from their husbands. Cochrane was dismayed at the condition of her dishes after hand washing, and she longed to spend time used for washing dishes for creative endeavors, so she set out to create a mechanical dishwasher.

Author Hannigan did her homework; the book has a strong bibliography and includes additional information about Cochrane and other women inventors. Hannigan tells this story with clever phrasing, adapting similes and metaphors relating to dishwashing to wryly describe the events of Cochrane's life.