Annabelle Stirling is a cloth merchant in Leeds in Regency Britain who, in her enthusiasm for the industrial revolution, runs afoul of a group of Luddites, one of whom is her fiance and another her brother, Wesley who destroy her new milling machine. When the authorities refuse to help, Belle naively thinks a royal audience will get justice done, and she journeys to London from Yorkshire to present her case at Parliament. The prince regent isn't much help, but he takes a shine to her, and soon Belle finds a new business mentor in his architect, John Nash, and a romance with a shy young cabinet maker, Putnam Boyce. Belle's life is complicated considerably, though, by her brother Wesley's involvement in the treasonous Cato Street Conspiracy (an attempt to murder British cabinet ministers and Lord Liverpool in 1820).

Includes discussion questions.

Includes bibliographical references.