So what's all this about...?
Isambard and the Cato Street Conspiracy is set in 1820s London, at the dawn of the industrial revolution. You may have heard of the fantastic inventions and contraptions that were conceived in this wildly innovative period, but one fact which is much less well known is that magic was still being widely used at this time - it was one of the most powerful forces driving the power struggles that gripped Europe.
Young Isambard is an apprentice engineer who has never had anything to do with magic. But all that changes when a mysterious stranger saves his life...
Old enemy ... Ancient magic
"His designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering."
Recognise the name?
If the name Isambard means anything to you, you're probably thinking of one man: Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Born in 1806, Isambard's father brought him up to follow him as an engineer of exceptional talent and vision. Between them they built the first tunnel under the Thames, and Isambard went on to eclipse his father as the poster-boy of Britain's Industrial Revolution - here are some of his acheivements:
the entire Great Western Railway (GWR)
multiple gigantinormerous steamships (including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship)
flat-pack hospitals for use in distant battlefields
countless other important dockyards, bridges and tunnels, most of which are still functioning today
Some people think of Isambard as the Wolverine of the Industrial Revolution (well Sydney Padua does, for one)
So is it fiction or non-fiction.... or both?
The Young Isambard series is a curious mixture of fact and fiction, history and near-history. Whilst Isambard and many of the characters and situations you'll find in the books are modelled on the kind of thing you find on Wikipedia, there is also plenty of magical goings-on that you won't find in any history books. That's why you'll find lots of material on this site around the themes of:
Young Isambard trailer v45 (music, no intro).MP4