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 mum 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, Mechanics seeks to wow the prince and eager entrepreneurs alike.

 

There are 320 pages in this book. This book was published 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company .

Betsy Cornwell is the New York Times best-selling author of Tides, Mechanica, and The Forest Queen. She received an MFA in creative writing from Notre Dame and lives in Ireland with her family. Visit her at www. betsycornwell. com.