This steampunk story thrusts us into the thick of the action at once, for agent Jacques Martin is pursuing a boy from the American Dominions who has stolen some plans. They chase through snowy Paris but the boy escapes, and the secrets with him.

GOSSAMER WING is a new dirigible airship, piloted by Lady Charlotte Moncrieffe, a widow and noted pilot who lives near New York City and orders inventive weaponry for herself. People have various implants, to improve their hearing or to carry hidden knives, and steam-powered cars are seen on the roads. Britain and America are allied against revolutionary France, in what amounts to an arms race. In order to visit France unsuspected, Charlotte is told she will have to marry and go on honeymoon. Afterwards there can be an annulment. She barely blinks before agreeing, but is this a step too far? Dexter has been a correspondent of Charlotte's, and has designed and made her gear, but he's more upset by the prospect of a sham marriage than she is.

Charlotte was a newlywed when her husband was killed by a French spy, giving her motivation to join the Agency. Dexter does not use the title he inherited, believing it more important to better the conditions of workers. Can the unlikely pair smuggle a camouflaged airship into France and accomplish their mission?

GOSSAMER WING is an entertaining and exciting adult read with the main characters exploring their situation amid counter- spying by Jacques and his team. A manufactory run by a British man has woodworkers, clockmakers and metalsmiths side by side, while hidden in an underground level is a more complex production system for submersibles. The author Delphine Dryden has put a lot of thought and inventiveness into her world to make it feel quite real, busy and politicking. If steam and seduction are for you, this fantasy GOSSAMER WING will tickle your fancy.