Ada Lovelace

Daughter of the famous romantic poet Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace was a child prodigy. Brilliant at maths, she read numbers like most people read words.

Lady Byron wanted Ada to be as unlike her father as possible. Ada grew up surrounded by an army of tutors who taught her every subject every waking moment, except for poetry.

In 1843 Ada came to the attention of Charles Babbage, a scientist and inventor who had just built a miraculous machine called the 'Difference Engine'. Ada and Mr Babbage started working together – a perfect partnership which led to the most important invention of the modern world: the computer!

Short Books is re-releasing some of its finest writing as a newly designed series of six children's biographies called The Great Victorians.

These are entertaining and engaging stories of some of history's most fascinating characters. They tell history in a novelistic, engaging way, a halfway house between storybooks and traditional history. There is abundant humour and drama too.

With beautifully designed covers these books will catch the eyes of parents as well as children.