The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

Carl Hollywood goes to London to take the neo-Victorian oath. He meets Lord Finkle-McGraw, who tells Carl about the three Primers and the girls who had them. They’ve grown up and are subversive but not in the way Finkle-McGraw hoped. Elizabeth Finkle-McGraw is subversive but also an anarchic member of CryptNet; her Primer time was spent with many ractors. Fiona is a “classic manic-depressive artist” (306); her Primer time was spent with her odd, rule-breaking father. Nell will be a power in New Atlantis, likely because she spent all her time in the Primer with one person, Miranda. Carl explains that Miranda gave up everything to become Nell’s mother and is now among the Drummers, hoping they can help her find Nell by hacking the network. Finkle-McGraw asks Carl to find Miranda.

Nell seeks work as a scriptwriter at Madame Ping’s, where the elite can engage in BDSM play. Madame Ping hires her almost immediately. Madame Ping’s business model is to take the ractive fantasies of neo-Victorian clients and turn them into culturally specific ractives that appeal to non-neo-Victorians who want to be as much like the neo-Victorians as possible.