Steampunk Canada

Author Gail Carriger is well known for her series The Parasol Protectorate.  The world she created within, as well as her main character Alexia Tarabotti, is well known and loved around the world.

I am quite sure I was not the only person upset when the series ended with the grand finale of Timeless. Ms. Carriger created a world and characters that grew to be very dear to her readers. So much so that Miss Tarabotti, Lord Maccon, and the author herself have become household names in the parlor of many a steampunk, and those who simply love a good story.

But Ms. Carriger is a good soul. She would never leave her readers flailing about in fan consternation. She immediately began writing again. Not only that, she decided to create more stories in the world people had come to love, an alternative Victorian England filled with werewolves, vampires and adventure. While one series she is working on continues some time after the end of The Parasol Protectorate, the other takes place in this same world, but a good number of years before her first novel Soulless and our introduction to Alexia Tarabotti.

Etiquette & Espionage is the first book in the Finishing School series.  The main character, Sophronia Angelina Temminnick, is the youngest daughter of an upper class family living comfortably in the countryside. She is highly curious, especially about anything mechanical, and she loves to climb. Not ladylike behaviour in the least. But someone sees some mysterious potential in her and Sophronia's mother agrees to send her to Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. As the book title would suggest, this is no ordinary finishing school. From the every moment the carriage leaves with Sophronia it becomes quite obvious that this may be just the right place for her, even if she herself does not agree...at first.

I don't wish to share too many details, this is after all a story involving "espionage", but I will say that I love this new female heroine, I love the many ways Ms. Carriger has connected this series with her first, and I want my very own Bumbersnoot.

Here is a delightful TEASER TRAILER to get you even more excited about this new series.

This first book is a brililant introduction to Gail Carriger's Young Adult series.  It is a wonderful read for any age. It has the same adventure, intrigue and humour as The Parasol Protectorate series. Its characters are sure to become household names in the very near future.  I highly recommend Etiquette & Espionage!

It will be released on February 5, 2013 and you can pre-order it now at amazon.ca