His Clockwork Canary

April 22, 2013
Ciotta’s second Glorious Victorious Darcys installment (after Her Sky Cowboy) explodes into the middle of Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee in an alternate England warped by time-traveling hippies. Incorrigibly ham-handed and irresistibly dishy amateur engineer Simon Darcy is hellbent on restoring the Darcy family’s fame and fortune before his older twin, Jules, can do so. Simon intends to find the original clockwork propulsion system brought by the Mod Peace Rebels from the love-not-war-making 1960s. He’s first hindered and then besotted by the scandal-sheet newshound Clockwork Canary, initially disguised as boy reporter Willie G. but speedily uncorseted into Wilhelmina Goodenough, a Vic-Mod hybrid Freak. Cleverly mixing Simon and Willie’s chase for glory with interludes of knee-buckling amatory rapture and hissable flashes of archvillain Lord Bingham, Ciotta rockets raunchily along to a spectacular finale with cameos from earlier characters. Buttressed by a helpful glossary and hinting strongly at a third volume featuring bionic undercover agent Jules, this audacious fantasy romance will have readers goggle-eyed and thirsting for more. Agent: Amy Moore-Benson, AMB Literary Management.

Starred review from May 15, 2013
In the second book, after Her Sky Cowboy (2012), in Ciotta's fantastic steampunk Glorious Victorious Darcys series, Willie G. is the Clockwork Canary, a young, popular writer for the London Informer, a trendy Victorian tabloid. On the hunt for a good story, he has finagled his way into accompanying inventor Simon Darcy on his quest for a time-travel engine. Simon needs to find the carefully hidden object to win the Jubilee Science Committee Award and restore his family fortune. But Willie G. is actually Wilhelmina Goodenough, a time-tracking Freak with kaleidoscope eyes; the same Wilhelmina who broke off elopement plans with Simon 12 years earlier. They've both changed a lot since, but eventually Simon sees through the disguise that has fooled everyone else, and they discover that their ardor has not died. Together they search for the engine, navigating the complex, often deadly, societal maze formed when time-traveling hippies landed in Queen Victoria's England, and an oxymoronic Peace War took place. Ciotta has written another imaginative, whirlwind adventure, featuring a daring hero and a spirited heroine, incredible inventions, and bernefarious villains.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)