The Difference Engine

1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines.  Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time.  And three extraordinary characters race toward a rendezvous with history—and the future:   Sybil Gerard —a fallen woman, politician’s tart, daughter of a Luddite agitator   Edward “Leviathan” Mallory —explorer and paleontologist   Laurence Oliphant —diplomat,