The Difference Engine

The Difference Engine is an alternate history steampunk novel by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, set in a Victorian Britain transformed by the successful creation of a mechanical computer by Charles Babbage. Amidst the chaos of summer heat and pollution driving the ruling class from London, technology-hating Luddites rise against the intellectual elite. The story follows the daughter of an executed Luddite leader as she comes into possession of a set of perforated punch cards and embarks on a quest to uncover their secrets.