Speculative fiction from the acclaimed author of Exit, Pursued by a Bear. In 1830 Queen Victoria changed the world forever, defying her guardians' efforts to make her weak and easily controlled. Two centuries later, another teenage Victoria is preparing to take the throne and shake the globe once more. Set in a near-future world where the British Empire never fell and the United States never rose, That Inevitable Victorian Thing is a surprising, delightful, and thought-provoking novel of love, duty, and the forces that change the world. Victoria-Margaret is the crown princess of the empire, a direct descendent of Victoria I, the queen who changed the course of history two centuries earlier. The imperial practice of genetic curation (think arranged marriage via online dating) will soon guide Margaret into a politically advantageous marriage like her own mother before her, but before she does her duty, she'll have one summer incognito in a far corner of empire. In Canada, she meets Helena Marcus, daughter of one of the empire's greatest placement geneticists, and August O'Brien, the son and heir apparent to a powerful shipping firm currently besieged by American pirates. In a summer of high-society debutante balls, politically charged tea parties, and romantic country dances, Margaret, Helena, and August discover they share an unusual bond and maybe a one in a million chance to have what they want and to change the world in the process--just like the first Victoria.