Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the Clockwork Suitor: The Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone Chronicles, #1

By L.C. Mawson

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone never cared much for boys.

She was too fixated on corsets or engines to give them much notice. An "inventor's disposition" is how her uncle referred to it when she would forget basic necessities, like food or sleep.

But proper ladies don't spend their days reinventing the steam engine, so Lady Ruth's uncle helped her to create a new persona - The Owl: Britain's Greatest Inventor!

The Owl is sought after but so is Lady Ruth, and making sure she remains free to pursue her inventions may every ounce of her cunning.

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the Clockwork Suitor is the first in a trilogy of steampunk novellas following Lady Ruth's adventures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: L.C. Mawson
• Release date: Jan 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386510000

Book preview

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the Clockwork Suitor

The Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone Chronicles, Volume 1

L.C. Mawson

Published by L.C. Mawson, 2018.

Copyright © L.C. Mawson (2016). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Also by L.C. Mawson

Aspects

Love/Hate

Justice/Loneliness

Empathy/Pain

Stability/Conflict

Loyalty/Betrayal

Trust/Doubt

Hope/Fear

Aspects: Books 1-3

Aspects: 4-6

Aspects: Books 1-6

Castaway Heart

Castaway Heart

Castaway Soul

Castaway Love

Castaway Heart: The Complete Story

Daughter of Nature

Fire

Air

Water

Earth

Storm

Bloom

Ember Academy for Magical Beings

Advanced Dragon Studies

Basics of Magical Bonds

Advanced Mermaid Politics

Foundational Dragon Law

Interspecies Social Studies

Advanced Power Transference

Ember Academy for Young Witches

Basics of Spellcraft

History of Magic

Advanced Healing Spells

Ethics of Magic

Advanced Combat Magic

Politics of Magic

Ember Academy for Young Witches: Books 1-6

Engineered Magic

Soulbound

Engineered Rebel

Rebel

Resist

Rebuild

Reconnect

Reconsider

Resolution

Engineered Rebel: Books 1-3

Engineered Rebel: Books 1-6

Engineered Rebel: Books 4-6

Freya Snow

Hunt

White

Wings

Oracle

Witch

Enhanced

Reaper

Trident

Kingsguard

Princess

Queen

Warden

Pandora

Sacrifice

Darkness

Trapped

The Freya Snow Pup Trilogy: Books 1-3

Freya Snow Short Story Collection

The Freya Snow Hammer Trilogy: Books 4-6

Freya Snow - The Beginning: Books 1-6

The Freya Snow Elemental Trilogy: Books 7-9

The Freya Snow Princess Trilogy: Books 10-12

The Freya Snow Final Trilogy: Books 13-15

Freya Snow: The End (Books 7-15)

The Freya Snow Complete Collection (Books One to Fifteen)

The Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone Chronicles

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the Clockwork Suitor

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the Parisian Thief

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the American Escapade

The Complete Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone Chronicles

The Royal Cleaner

Target

Home

Separated

Healing

Family

Exiled

Torn

Prisoner

Belonging

The Royal Cleaner: Books 1-3

The Royal Cleaner: Books 1-6

The Royal Cleaner: Books 4-6

The Royal Cleaner: Books 7-9

The Royal Cleaner: Books 1-9

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Also By L.C. Mawson

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the Clockwork Suitor (The Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone Chronicles, #1)

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Book Two Preview

Also By L.C. Mawson

The condition we now refer to as 'autism' was first recognised by the medical communities of Europe in the first half of the 20th century.

However, before this point, Autistic people still existed. Many were simply seen as 'eccentric' and certain euphemisms arose to describe them.

One such euphemism arose during the Industrial Revolution, within the upper class of London. Many of the great minds behind the revolution were referred to as having 'an inventor's disposition'.

The majority of the modern day technology we so heavily rely on - particularly automatons and other mechanicals - can be traced back to these inventors.

One such inventor was referred to only as The Owl, and they were single-handedly responsible for a great deal of both technological and social change during Queen Victoria's reign.

- Excerpt from The Owl: The Birth of the Automaton Age,

By Professor Lucinda Caroline Mawson

1

Somewhere just south of York, Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone came to the conclusion that travelling by train did not agree with her.

Of course, she had never left her home city of Newcastle before, so she had no idea if the train was the offensive factor, or if it was simply travel itself. As her eyes ached and her stomach churned, however, she decided that the question of what exactly was offending her was immaterial. She was offended, and that was enough to turn her mood sour.

Her hair clips felt as if they were trying to dig into her skull, and her nose couldn’t help but pick up even the slightest smell. Her only source of comfort was the familiar pressure of her corset tight around her middle, grounding her. But the comforting effect was slightly muted by the fact that the bright yellow colour of her dress was now too much for her eyes.

How much longer until we reach London, Uncle Thomas? she asked as soon as he stepped into the private carriage. Despite being her uncle, he was only a few years older than her. However, because he shared her dark hair and eyes — contrasted by fair skin — they were often mistaken for siblings and could easily pass as twins, probably because Ruth almost entirely took after her father. The only thing she inherited from her mother was thick, almost unmanageable, hair and a full figure.

We are still in the north, my dear, he pointed out as he took the tray he was carrying and placed it down on the table between them.

Oh good, thought Ruth, he brought tea.

Someone else should have probably brought them the tea, in all honesty, but Ruth was in no fit state to deal with strangers, and her uncle was more than accommodating. An inventor’s disposition, he called it, simply taking it as the flip side to his greatest discovery.

When they had been younger, Thomas had taken to inventing for a while, as he had seen what the industrial revolution was doing for Britain and he wanted to play a hand in shaping the future.

He had been lousy at it, of course. Ruth had told him as much when she had visited his workshop. After a few hours of ravenously pouring through his textbooks while he brought her tea and biscuits, she had managed to fix up the invention that he had spent weeks stumped over, completely unable to get it to work as intended. After that, Thomas had given up inventing, fancying himself an entrepreneur instead, much to the chagrin of his father. Ruth