When 17-year-olds Ada Lovelace and Mary Shelley née Godwin meet at a party, they become thick as thieves in Ashton, Hand, and Meadows's (My Contrary Mary)inventive historical fiction collaboration, set in London during the Industrial Revolution. Writer Mary lives a quiet life hopelessly pining after dashing poet Percy Shelley. Meanwhile, Ada spends her time desperately trying to get her robot Pan (aka Practical Automaton Number One) to work. When Mary's purportedly fae godmother, Miss Stamp, suddenly appears from a previously unknown door inside Mary's wardrobe, Miss Stamp informs her that she's been endowed with magical abilities that "can make what we imagine real." Science-minded Ada is skeptical, until Mary brings Pan to life. Chaos ensues when, following Pan's animation, mysterious villains come knocking on the girls' door. The teens' bitingly clever alternating perspectives, interspersed via an omniscient narrator, occasionally convey historical tidbits in direct asides to the reader—as when setting the time period: "the year 18—mumble mumble (sorry, the exact date is a bit smudged)"—handily rendering a riotous romp through two prominent figures' imagined—and winningly fantastical—lives. Ages 13–up. (Aug.)

Gr 8–10—The Lady Janies are back with another irreverent take on a historic woman. This time, Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace cross paths in the name of science, humanity, and adventure. Shelley and Lovelace are two teen girls fighting against society, family, and expectations for their own creativity. Shortly after being told they are fae, they accidentally bring a robotic man created by Ada to life, and have to abscond from England with him to save them all. Part Frankenstein precursor, part feminist wandering through early 19th-century Europe, this YA novel is about 150 pages too long and lacks the pizzazz of the authors' earlier titles together. Fans of Shelley and Lovelace will enjoy playing more in their psyche, as each woman and their creation gets a POV, but fans of the novel will be disappointed by how light this book feels, despite the chloroform. VERDICT Give this book to younger fans of historical fiction and tentative fantasy who aren't familiar with Shelley's work and want an easy entry into this time period.—Aryssa Damron