Magnificent Devices Books 1–8

This eight-book set contains the adventures of Lady Claire Trevelyan:
Lady of Devices—Her Own Devices—Magnificent Devices—Brilliant Devices—A Lady of Resources—A Lady of Spirit—A Lady of Integrity—A Gentleman of Means, an edition of over 500,000 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, 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 Americas. 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? 

Lady Claire’s adventures take her to the Texican Territory, the diamond mines of the Canadas, to a university career in Munich, to Venice, and at last to the greatest adventure of all—love.  

“An immensely fun series with some excellent anti-sexist messages, a wonderful main character (one of my favourites in the genre) and a great sense of Victorian style and language that’s both fun and beautiful to read.” —Fangs for the Fantasy: The latest in urban fantasy from a social justice perspective