In a future society of nano-engineered matter and rigid neo-Victorian tribe affiliations, a nanotechnology engineer illicitly creates a unique interactive book—the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer—intended to raise a privileged girl to think freely, but it ends up in the hands of a poor girl named Nell, whose education by the Primer shapes her extraordinary destiny. A rich, ambitious novel about education, culture, class, and the nature of intelligence. Complex and occasionally demanding but deeply rewarding.