Nicolette's awful stepsisters call her "Mechanica" to demean her, but the nickname fits: she learned to be an inventor at her mother's knee. Her mom is gone now, though, and the Steps have pushed her into a life of dreary servitude.
When she discovers a secret workshop in the cellar on her sixteenth birthday -- and befriends Jules, a tiny magical metal horse -- Nicolette starts to imagine a new life for herself. And the timing may be perfect: There's a technological exposition and a royal ball on the horizon. Determined to invent her own happily-ever-after, Mechanica seeks to wow the prince and eager entrepreneurs alike.
"This inventive and subversive 'Cinderella' retelling features Nicolette 'Nick,' who at 16 discovers the existence of a basement workshop, complete with a furnace, glassblowing apparatus, and other mechanical tools powered partly by fey magic....Readers looking for an atypical fairy tale will find this refreshing because it relies less on traditional romance or happy endings, and more on living independently and unconventionally, loving freely, and being able to choose your own destiny." -- Sharon Rawlins, School Library Journal
Recommended Age | 12 and up |
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Author | Betsy Cornwell |
ISBN | 0547927711 |
Publication Date | Aug 25, 2015 |
Publisher | Clarion Books |
Language | English |