The 21st century. Europe is divided between the First World bourgeoisie, made rich by nanotechnology and the cheap versatile slave labour of genetically engineered Dolls and the Fourth World of refugees and homeless displaced by war and economic upheaval. In London, Alex Sharkey is trying to make his mark as a designer of psychoactive viruses, whilst staying one step ahead of the police and the Triad gangs. At the cost of three hours of his life, he finds an unlikely ally in a scary, super-smart little girl called Milena, but his troubles really start when he helps Milena quicken intelligence in a Doll, turning it into the first of the fairies. Milena isn't sure if she's mad or if she's the only sane person left in the world; she only knows that she wants to escape to her own private Fairyland and live forever. Although Milena has created the fairies for her own ends, some of the Folk, as fey and dangerous as any in legend, have other ideas about her destiny ...

Paul J. McAuley won the Philip K. Dick Award for his first novel and has gone on to win the Arthur C. Clarke, British Fantasy, Sidewise and John W. Campbell Awards. He gave up his position as a research biologist to write full-time.He lives in london.

In 21st century Europe, ravaged by the changes of war and technology, gene hacker Alex Sharkey is a bare step ahead of the police and the Triads. When he helps a super-smart girl turn a genetically-engineered doll into a new species, he doesn't realize he's giving history a dangerous shove.

"A thriving trade in barely legal psycho-active viruses has kept underground gene-hacker Alex Sharkey alive in an uncertain post-Millennium - a desperate business that has inadvertently allied him with criminals and Triad chiefs. But these are desperate times Sharkey lives in - with the ecosphere teetering on the brink of collapse in the midst of a bioscientific golden age that has produced such marvels as body-tailoring fembots...and dolls." "Compliant, blue-skinned gengineered creatures, dolls have been specifically designed to serve their human masters as pets, unskilled laborers, even as targets in twisted and brutal murder games. Their creation, and destruction, is of no concern to Alex Sharkey, however, until he receives an irresistible summons - and a challenge - from a brilliant, mesmerizing little girl." "Calling herself Milena, she is the hypnotic and powerfully adept product of a biotechnology project that bred artificially accelerated supergeniuses, and needs Alex's unique expertise to transform the dolls into fairies, a brand new species capable of reproduction and free thought. Yet it is not altruism that drives Milena; her ultimate goal is far more complex, and potentially devastating to all of humanity."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

In a near-future Europe, gene-hacker Alex Sharkey has created a new life form: fairies - genetically-altered dolls with human intelligence. As the fairies develop their own societies, it become apparent that one group has sinister intentions, and Sharkey must try and put an end to their plans.