Cogheart
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Thirteen-year-old Lily Harman always dreamed of adventure. A strong-willed girl, Lily felt trapped in a life of Victorian stuffiness at her prim boarding school. But after her father-a famous inventor-disappears on a routine zeppelin flight, Lily's life gets turned upside down.
Now cared for by her guardian, the heartless Madame Verdigris, Lily is quite certain that she's being watched. Mysterious, silver-eyed men are lurking in the shadows, just waiting for their chance to strike. But what could they possibly want from her?
There are rumors, Lily learns, that her father had invented the most valuable invention ever made-a perpetual motion machine. But if he made such a miraculous discovery, he certainly never told Lily. And all he left behind is a small box-with no key, no hinges.
With the help of a clockmaker's son, Robert, and her mechanimal fox, Malkin, Lily escapes London in search of the one person who might know something about her father's disappearance-and what he left behind.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The fantastically imaginative opener to Bunzl's Cogheart Adventures series is a steampunk story with faint echoes of The Little Princess. Victorian-era Lily is always in trouble at the boarding school she attends; she'd rather be an air pirate than a proper young woman, and it shows in her adventurous spirit and appreciation of penny dreadfuls. Thanks to her father's example, Lily has love and compassion for the seemingly sentient mechanicals that are used as servants. When her father mysteriously goes missing and Lily is removed from school by her evil guardian, Madame Verdigris, she must uncover her father's secret, protect it, and find him. Enter Robert, a 13-year-old clockmaker's apprentice. He's drawn to Lily after he finds her pet mechanical fox, which has been injured. Together, they embark on a journey through an England filled with dirigibles, mechanical beings, and a darkness of spirit that neither knew existed. With great style and panache, the novel deftly winds through the intricacies of friendship and moral choice while maintaining a fun edge. Ages 8 12.
