The Clockwork Solstice

About this book

In an alternate 1816 England, the 'Year Without a Summer' is an eternal, frozen reality caused by a shroud of violet volcanic ash that blocks the sun and dampens magic. While the elite Aurelians hoard warmth through solar artifacts, eighteen-year-old scrap-tinker Tuya makes a living in the freezing slums of London. Tuya possesses a dangerous secret: she can hear the grinding heartbeat of the celestial spheres, a sound that tells her the universe's mechanism has physically jammed. When she instinctively repairs a fallen star-fragment, she attracts the deadly attention of the Iron Guard. Fleeing for her life, she is intercepted by Julian Thorne, the reclusive Duke of Aris, who seeks the same cosmic machinery to save his dying estate. Forced into an uneasy alliance, Tuya and Julian must navigate a treacherous society of frozen ballrooms and steam-powered subterfuge. As the frost deepens and the world's clockwork begins to fail completely, Tuya discovers that fixing the sky requires a sacrifice neither she nor Julian is prepared to make.