A Lady of Spirit: A steampunk adventure novel featuring smart, brave women

Book excerpt: You can choose your friends, but you cannot choose your family … or can you? Under normal circumstances, Maggie and Lizzie would be delighted to meet their long-lost relatives and be reunited with those who had believed them dead, but when are the Mopsies’ circumstances ever normal? With her half-brother Claude Seacombe, Lizzie travels to Cornwall to meet her mother’s parents. Maggie goes along, too, since she is part of the family … or so one might assume. But the more time she spends in her grandparents’ clifftop mansion, the more she realizes that something is not right, and the events surrounding her own mother’s death are more mysterious—and dangerous—than anyone alive suspects. For an old nemesis is preying on the weak and proud, and she cannot stand by and watch. Maggie must straighten her spine, plunge into danger for Lizzie’s sake … and prove that no matter the name she bears, she is first and foremost what the Lady of Devices believes her to be … a lady of spirit. “Another excellent book in an excellent series. The world is wacky and immense fun, the stories exciting and all well written and well paced (and with chickens for even more fun). But the backbone of this great series is and has always been the characters—their issues, their layers, their complexity, their solid relationships and loyalties all elevate a good book to a really great one.” —Fangs for the Fantasy, on A Lady of Spirit A Lady of Spirit is the sixth novel in the Magnificent Devices steampunk series. Books 5 and 6 form a duet. No strong language, just a very proper kiss or two and a satisfying solution. If you like books by Gail Carriger, Lindsay Buroker, or Emma Jane Holloway, you’re in the right place. Enjoy!