This four-book set contains the “Claire Quartet” — , , , and , an edition of over 250,000 words.
London, 1889. Victoria is Queen. Charles Darwin’s son is Prime Minister. And steam is the power that runs the world.
At 17, Claire Trevelyan, daughter of Viscount St. Ives, was expected to do nothing more than pour an elegant cup of tea, sew a fine seam, and catch a rich husband. Unfortunately, … St. Ives, was expected to do nothing more than pour an elegant cup of tea, sew a fine seam, and catch a rich husband. Unfortunately, Claire’s talents lie not in the ballroom, but in the chemistry lab, where things have a regrettable habit of blowing up. When her father gambles the estate on the combustion engine and loses, Claire finds herself down and out on the mean streets of London. But being a young woman of resources and intellect, she turns fortune on its head…
A South Bank gang — Snouts, Tigg, Jake, 10-year-old twin girls called the Mopsies, Weepin’ Willie, and Rosie the chicken—soon becomes Claire’s flock. But concealing her secret life becomes increasingly difficult, particularly when a powerful lord proposes and she and her friends are forced to flee on an airship to the American Territories. Will she achieve her goal of a university degree? Will her loyalty to her friends be her undoing when it jeopardizes the plans of powerful men who desire money more than honor? And just how many funerals will her unfortunate mother be forced to arrange?
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Not a good series to jump in instead of going to the start Characters are brought into and affect the plot without a clue to whom they are. Events happen with no explanation. Either skip thru and read the steamy parts or muddle thru blindly.
I read the steamy parts . Good? Dunno. Steamy yes. Typical yes. Perhaps would merit a higher …