In the waning days of the nineteenth century, the kingdom of Éire rules one of the most powerful empires in the world. Its universities are renowned, with scholars drawn from Montenegro to Frankonia to the faraway nations of the western continent. Its colonies, especially the Anglian Dependencies, are filled with resentful subjects. And as the young queen Áine Lasairíona Devereaux takes the throne, Europe hovers on the brink of war. In a series of braided stories, Claire O'Dell has created a tale about a queen who seeks to guard her kingdom, and the brilliant Éireann scientists who strive to conquer the nature of time.