Anne Dawson

Daughter of the poet Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace was a child prodigy. Brilliant at maths, she read numbers like most people read words. In 1834 she came to the attention of scientist Charles Babbage, who had just built an amazing 'thinking machine'. Thus began a remarkable collaboration in the invention of computer. 

When the quiet, unassuming widower Sidney Middleton is found dead in his cottage from carbon monoxide poisoning, Sheila Malory is deeply disturbed. On recent meetings the old man had seemed in rude health and the official explanation that the ageing wood-burning stove was faulty just doesn't seem to add up.