It’s 1838, and Europe is obsessed with mechanical contraptions, and the Rajah is the height of entertainment as the ultimate chess-playing machine. Kit has toured with the Rajah since the age of ten and knows the secret behind the machine all too well . . . just as she knows that people would rather be fooled than have their illusions stripped away.
An eccentric Countess summons the Rajah to her manor house in Vienna for a private engagement. There, Kit meets the inquisitive Eleanor, who tests Kit’s ability to tell the difference between truth and illusion . . . Or is it all just another game of chess?
“Written in the first person, The Ghost and the Machine is a smart, cunning, original, and well-written story dotted with dollops of droll observation, dry wit, and gripping pathos. The characters are by turns quirky, insolent, insightful, deceptive, and all together brilliantly flawed. In addition, the storyline is fresh and tight, and manages to surprise, even though the end game is revealed to the reader early in the narrative.” — review by Salem West, The Rainbow Reader
“Well paced, left me turning the virtual pages (of my kindle) well into the night. A fascinating idea and a well executed story. Good read. Unique. Well written.”--The Lesbian Review
"What grabbed me from the start was the excellence of the writing. Not only is Lawrence’s prose brutally exquisite, but she has the knack of portraying complex psychological experiences without falling back on modern medical terminology that would be out of place in a historic setting." - Alpennia
Bink Books
230 pp. ● 5.5×8.5
$13.95 (pb) ● $7.95 (eb)
ISBN 978-1-934452-89-9 (pb)
FICTION – Historical
Benny Lawrence lives in Toronto, Canada, where she works as a lawyer while wondering just when in hell she grew up. Occasionally, she dons elaborate hats and sallies out after dark to solve crimes. There being no crimes lying around for her to solve, she mooches off home and eats cookies instead. She enjoys dead languages, not-dead cats, fizzy drinks, preparing for the apocalypse, and board games. She has been told that she takes her board games much too seriously. On a literature front, she is obsessed with mysteries, science fiction, and fantasy books, as long as they involve snappy dialogue and females who can deliver it.
Top 10 Lesbian Book Beginnings – The Lesbian Reader
10 Best Lesbian Books – The Lesbian Reader
Interview With Fiction Writer Benny Lawrence – The Rainbow Hub
Interview with Benny Lawrence by AJ Adair
Guest Blog: Benny Lawrence – Unusual Historicals