Inspired by E.T.A. Hoffman’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, and the beloved holiday ballet, this is the nutcracker tale like you’ve never heard it before. 
Later, the party goers would comment on the delicacy of the cakes, the frivolity of the entertainment, and the becoming headwear of the ladies, but as polite society at all times behaved appropriately, they never mentioned the deaths. This was of great comfort to the host and hostess. 
It’s shaping up to be the most dangerous of all Christmas Eves, and fifteen year old Ree Stahlbaum is in the midst of it. Apprentice to a mysterious inventor named Drosselmeier, Ree is swept up in his dark dealings as the clock strikes midnight. As she leaves her comfortable, safe hearth and home to uncover the secrets behind living toys and enchanted creatures, Ree finds friendship and enemies in unexpected places. Putting aside her knitting and embroidery and the constant nagging of her sister, are all tasks she can relish easily enough, but the choices and demands only get harder from there … 
Is Ree up to the task of righting Drosselmeier’s wrongs, with only a Nutcracker man, a clockwork doll, an irritating older brother, a handful of urchins, and her wits to help her? With an army of mechanical rats close on her heels and an air ship of sky pirates above her, time is running out, and Ree can’t be sure who to trust. 
Drosselmeier’s dark world is unlike anything Ree has ever known. A lifetime of needlepoint, piano forte, and etiquette lessons had hardly prepared her for this …