The Watchmaker's Daughter
About The Watchmaker's Daughter
India Steele is desperate. Her father is dead, her fiancé took her inheritance, and no one will employ her, despite years working for her watchmaker father. Indeed, the other London watchmakers seem frightened of her.
Alone, poor, and at the end of her tether, India takes employment with the only person who'll accept her - an enigmatic and mysterious man from America. A man who possesses a strange watch that rejuvenates him when he's ill. Matthew Glass must find a particular watchmaker, but he won't tell India why any old one won't do.
Nor will he tell her what he does back home, and how he can afford to stay in a house in one of London's best streets. So when she reads about an American outlaw known as the Dark Rider arriving in England, she suspects Mr. Glass is the fugitive.
When danger comes to their door, she's certain of it. But if she notifies the authorities, she'll find herself unemployed and homeless again - and she will have betrayed the man who saved her life. With a cast of quirky characters, an intriguing mystery, and a dash of romance, THE WATCHMAKER'S DAUGHTER is the start of a thrilling new historical fantasy series from the author of the bestselling Ministry of Curiosities, Freak House, and Emily Chambers Spirit Medium books.
What readers say
Readers enjoy this gentle historical fantasy mystery set in 1890s London for its capable heroine shut out of her trade, the banter and slow-building romance with a mysterious American, the period detail and a central mystery that unfolds slowly across the series. Many also praise the audiobook narration. Common criticisms are flat telling rather than showing, a slow pace, magic that stays vague until late in the book, a heroine who leans on overheard conversations and wrong guesses, and thin side characters, and some say it isn't the steampunk the label suggests.
Best for: Readers who want light, escapist Victorian mystery with a dash of magic and a slow-burn romance.
Summary of public reader reviews, updated November 2026.