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I, Ada: Ada Lovelace: Rebel. Genius. Visionary
Ada Byron is rich and clever, but she longs to be free. Free to explore all the amazing ideas that come to her imagination, like flying mechanical horses and stories inspired by her travels. Free to find love and passion beyond the watchful gaze of her mother and governesses. And free to learn the full truth about her father, the notorious Lord Byron. Then Ada meets a man whose invention might just change the world – and he needs her visionary brilliance to bring it to life . . .
A wonderfully witty and poignant portrayal of the young life of Ada Lovelace, the 19th-century mathematician who is hailed as the world’s first computer programmer.
A wonderfully witty and poignant portrayal of the young life of Ada Lovelace, the 19th-century mathematician who is hailed as the world’s first computer programmer.
336 pages, Paperback
First published September 3, 2020
29 people are currently reading
432 people want to read
About the author
Julia Gray
41 books31 followersJulia Gray is the pseudonym of Mark and Julia Smith, a married couple who live and work in Norfolk. Having met while they were both working for a major London publishing house, they sparked each other into creative life, and began writing as a team a few months after setting up home together. They have been writing full time since 1991. They also publish under the pseudonym Jonathan Wylie.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
December 25, 2020
3.5 stars
I certainly enjoyed and do recommend this book, but it is not what I expected or wanted. I was hoping for a book that started where this one ended; with Ada and Charles Babbage changing the world of science.
Instead, the majority of it is speculation about Ada’s teenage years; the author has created a life for Ada’s young years that may or may not be accurate (the Author’s Note is very detailed on this matter).
As mentioned, I do truly recommend this (it was a deeply moving read), but do not go into this - as I did - wanting a biographically-based story of Ada Lovelace’s scientific theories.
I certainly enjoyed and do recommend this book, but it is not what I expected or wanted. I was hoping for a book that started where this one ended; with Ada and Charles Babbage changing the world of science.
Instead, the majority of it is speculation about Ada’s teenage years; the author has created a life for Ada’s young years that may or may not be accurate (the Author’s Note is very detailed on this matter).
As mentioned, I do truly recommend this (it was a deeply moving read), but do not go into this - as I did - wanting a biographically-based story of Ada Lovelace’s scientific theories.
September 4, 2020
This was a completely different read for me. Insightful, powerful, and entertaining.
The author’s portrayal of Ada Lovelace was fantastic, it showed what an unusual life she led. She spent much of her childhood being controlled by her mother and it shows what a strained relationship they had.
This is a fast-paced story and we get to see Ada grow up in the three sections. Ada has a strong sense of who she is throughout. The one thing yearns to know more about is her father and her mother limits what she tells her about him.
Ada’s intelligence knows no bounds and she struggles to be submissive to her mother’s demands. Her mother infuriated me for the majority of the book but it became apparent why she behaved as she did!
The only disappointment I had was that it didn’t show her working with Mr Babbage on the machine. It was the part I was most excited for and it didn’t really happen.
A great story with a fantastic, headstrong and intelligent protagonist.
The author’s portrayal of Ada Lovelace was fantastic, it showed what an unusual life she led. She spent much of her childhood being controlled by her mother and it shows what a strained relationship they had.
This is a fast-paced story and we get to see Ada grow up in the three sections. Ada has a strong sense of who she is throughout. The one thing yearns to know more about is her father and her mother limits what she tells her about him.
Ada’s intelligence knows no bounds and she struggles to be submissive to her mother’s demands. Her mother infuriated me for the majority of the book but it became apparent why she behaved as she did!
The only disappointment I had was that it didn’t show her working with Mr Babbage on the machine. It was the part I was most excited for and it didn’t really happen.
A great story with a fantastic, headstrong and intelligent protagonist.
August 1, 2023
Initially I was really into the book, and it was fascinating to get to know Ada and her interests. She is written as a full and compelling character.
However, the book loses a star for me because it just ends, in the middle of her life and everything else is just quickly summarised in a few pages in the afterword.
However, the book loses a star for me because it just ends, in the middle of her life and everything else is just quickly summarised in a few pages in the afterword.
February 18, 2024
The 52 Week Reading Challenge: Women in Stem (6)
*3.5
The book is a fascinating and vivid biographical account of the teenage years of Ada Lovelace.
The book explores the fractured and strained relationship between mother and daughter and her desire to connect with her distant and deseased father, Lord Byron. I found that there was a great deal of emotional intelligence throughout the book as Ada yearned to define her own identity, which was distinct from that of her Byronic father.
I enjoyed this book as Ada came across as a compelling character, only recently has her contribution to the field of computer science been given the recognition that it rightly deserves.
*3.5
The book is a fascinating and vivid biographical account of the teenage years of Ada Lovelace.
The book explores the fractured and strained relationship between mother and daughter and her desire to connect with her distant and deseased father, Lord Byron. I found that there was a great deal of emotional intelligence throughout the book as Ada yearned to define her own identity, which was distinct from that of her Byronic father.
I enjoyed this book as Ada came across as a compelling character, only recently has her contribution to the field of computer science been given the recognition that it rightly deserves.
September 3, 2020
actual rating: 3.5
This review has also been posted on my blog, Evidently Bookish.
Julia Gray’s latest novel falls into an interesting gap between a biographical account and fiction; that which is known is brought to light and given life by way of imagination. Only recently has the contribution of Countess Lovelace, as with many people deemed unsuitable to be remembered, to the world of programming been recognised. This book manages to be both excellent in its own right and a vehicle to education about its subject.
While alight with curiosity inducing deference to arithmetic and ideas of equations that I long left behind, this novel remains at its heart a tale about wanting to know oneself. It is very much about a daughter seeking out a relationship with her father – to seek to build a relationship not only with an absent figure, but with one who dies is something that Gray frames with eloquence and a great deal of emotional intelligence. Gray propels this biographical adjacent book by exploring the need to define our identity, and those who influence it and the subsequent quandaries that arise because of that questioning.
In an oddly accurate sense, Ada both knows who she is entirely at times – she is the child who tears her clothes running through nature and needs to have her wild throes tames by education. Yet, as is often the paradox of growing up, she doesn’t really know at all. I really admire how Gray characterises Ada in this way – not only does it make her incredibly accessible as a ‘historical figure’ but it goes a long way to creating an authentic narrator.
In this book and perhaps just as in life, Ada and her relationship to Lord Byron is best described in a formula; what happens when an unstoppable force meets and immovable object? For all the dalliance that Ada has into various pursuits, her conviction – her need to create – remains. Her desire to see the world as is natural to her and carve out her own path is constantly in battle with this need to know her father and his unspoken (by her mother) legacy. On that note, Ada’s relationship to her mother is equally if not more important. It prevails throughout the majority of the book and is genuine; the frustrations and the desire to be more than a child – more than a responsibility but someone deserving of information, of conversation and not dictation – is incredibly relatable.
Gray structures the novel to follow Ada throughout her formative years, from age five to age nineteen/twenty and it takes on a familiar but effective pattern. Much like Ada’s thesis of multiple Ada’s existing, like conjoined newspaper dolls, with each passing year – with each new experience – Ada learns something that leads to her perhaps understanding her father more and by extension, ultimately, herself. It’s truly a fabulous way of telling a story whose ending can’t be concealed, whose details may already be intimately known by the reader. I particularly liked the presentation of Ada’s struggles, not only of being in the shadow of her father’s legacy (both as a child of someone renown but as a woman of the time period) but also the scrutiny of being in the public eye.
Gray has left nothing out, in my opinion. The revisited discussion about education – moreover, its availability to the poor – was a well-placed backbone to the patchwork of this book. I have no doubt as the author expresses in a note at the end of the novel that if any of the events that occur in this book have real life counterparts, that they did not happen as such – but that doesn’t really matter. Gray has woven a story that works despite that. To conclude, I, Ada is pleasant to read and oftentimes a surprisingly witty and heartfelt exercise in shedding light on the life and brilliance of Ada Lovelace.
This review has also been posted on my blog, Evidently Bookish.
Julia Gray’s latest novel falls into an interesting gap between a biographical account and fiction; that which is known is brought to light and given life by way of imagination. Only recently has the contribution of Countess Lovelace, as with many people deemed unsuitable to be remembered, to the world of programming been recognised. This book manages to be both excellent in its own right and a vehicle to education about its subject.
While alight with curiosity inducing deference to arithmetic and ideas of equations that I long left behind, this novel remains at its heart a tale about wanting to know oneself. It is very much about a daughter seeking out a relationship with her father – to seek to build a relationship not only with an absent figure, but with one who dies is something that Gray frames with eloquence and a great deal of emotional intelligence. Gray propels this biographical adjacent book by exploring the need to define our identity, and those who influence it and the subsequent quandaries that arise because of that questioning.
In an oddly accurate sense, Ada both knows who she is entirely at times – she is the child who tears her clothes running through nature and needs to have her wild throes tames by education. Yet, as is often the paradox of growing up, she doesn’t really know at all. I really admire how Gray characterises Ada in this way – not only does it make her incredibly accessible as a ‘historical figure’ but it goes a long way to creating an authentic narrator.
In this book and perhaps just as in life, Ada and her relationship to Lord Byron is best described in a formula; what happens when an unstoppable force meets and immovable object? For all the dalliance that Ada has into various pursuits, her conviction – her need to create – remains. Her desire to see the world as is natural to her and carve out her own path is constantly in battle with this need to know her father and his unspoken (by her mother) legacy. On that note, Ada’s relationship to her mother is equally if not more important. It prevails throughout the majority of the book and is genuine; the frustrations and the desire to be more than a child – more than a responsibility but someone deserving of information, of conversation and not dictation – is incredibly relatable.
Gray structures the novel to follow Ada throughout her formative years, from age five to age nineteen/twenty and it takes on a familiar but effective pattern. Much like Ada’s thesis of multiple Ada’s existing, like conjoined newspaper dolls, with each passing year – with each new experience – Ada learns something that leads to her perhaps understanding her father more and by extension, ultimately, herself. It’s truly a fabulous way of telling a story whose ending can’t be concealed, whose details may already be intimately known by the reader. I particularly liked the presentation of Ada’s struggles, not only of being in the shadow of her father’s legacy (both as a child of someone renown but as a woman of the time period) but also the scrutiny of being in the public eye.
Gray has left nothing out, in my opinion. The revisited discussion about education – moreover, its availability to the poor – was a well-placed backbone to the patchwork of this book. I have no doubt as the author expresses in a note at the end of the novel that if any of the events that occur in this book have real life counterparts, that they did not happen as such – but that doesn’t really matter. Gray has woven a story that works despite that. To conclude, I, Ada is pleasant to read and oftentimes a surprisingly witty and heartfelt exercise in shedding light on the life and brilliance of Ada Lovelace.
December 12, 2020
I, Ada follows the early years of Ada Lovelace, the daughter of infamous poet Lord Bayron. Using what is already known of Ada's early life and mixing it with a bit of fiction you get a wonderfully interesting young adult book about a very inspirational young woman. I have to say, historical books are not usually my kind of thing and before reading this book I knew basically nothing about Ada but I love stories of women that go against what's expected of them so I was all for giving thus book a shot.
I don't really know what I was expecting when I started reading this but it definitely wasn't a story about a curious young woman with a vivid imagination and overly controlling mother, with a little scandal to boot. It was great getting to know Ada and to learn about such an inspiring woman in a time women were expected to do nothing more than bake and breed. It's always nhve to see that famous people are just as human as the rest of us and thus definitely shows that Ada is. She has a boundless imagination and wants to take her own path in life but also wants to live up to the memory of her father who she knows little about.
In the afterword Gray points out some of the parts that are fictionalised, some you could probably guess but they make it that little bit more relatable. It really is an inspiring and enjoyable read. Despite my own personal tastes about historical literature I ended up loving Ada and I need to look into her later life and the things she did after the events of the book.
It's a brilliant, easy read about a inspiring young woman for YA readers and everyone else.
Rated: 3.5/5 Stars (rounded up to 4)
I don't really know what I was expecting when I started reading this but it definitely wasn't a story about a curious young woman with a vivid imagination and overly controlling mother, with a little scandal to boot. It was great getting to know Ada and to learn about such an inspiring woman in a time women were expected to do nothing more than bake and breed. It's always nhve to see that famous people are just as human as the rest of us and thus definitely shows that Ada is. She has a boundless imagination and wants to take her own path in life but also wants to live up to the memory of her father who she knows little about.
In the afterword Gray points out some of the parts that are fictionalised, some you could probably guess but they make it that little bit more relatable. It really is an inspiring and enjoyable read. Despite my own personal tastes about historical literature I ended up loving Ada and I need to look into her later life and the things she did after the events of the book.
It's a brilliant, easy read about a inspiring young woman for YA readers and everyone else.
Rated: 3.5/5 Stars (rounded up to 4)
January 11, 2021
This was an interesting and fascinating read about Ada's teen years - given the generation she was born in, her teen years had been eventful (marriage, love, learning endeavours etc).
More pertinently, her stature in society given the family she was born into meant she was bound to live an interesting life - filled with intense tutoring, watchful eyes and access to some of the most influential people of her time (Babbage, Dickens etc).
The book touched on various themes: love affairs, her father's notorious, yet elusive, reputation (this was the main storyline), her endeavors around "poetical science", and more.
More pertinently, her stature in society given the family she was born into meant she was bound to live an interesting life - filled with intense tutoring, watchful eyes and access to some of the most influential people of her time (Babbage, Dickens etc).
The book touched on various themes: love affairs, her father's notorious, yet elusive, reputation (this was the main storyline), her endeavors around "poetical science", and more.
December 8, 2020
This book was perfectly fine. That doesn't sound like much of an endorsement, does it?! I bought this book thinking it would be a good book to give to my daughter to inspire her to be a rebel, scientist, ect... Actually, this book cronicals the love life of Ada Byron, but the reader doesn't learn much about how she contributed to the creation of the fist computer. I would have like to see drawings and understand how the first computer functioned. That being said, I did learn more about how women lived at that time and I have developed a keen interest in Lord Byron. Time to get out my old English books and read some of his sonnets!
September 21, 2020
I wanted to go to bed early for work tomorrow and yet I could not put this book down. And so here I am with tears in my eyes because there is a day named after Ada Lovelace ❤️📚
January 25, 2024
The 52 Book Club Reading Challenge: No 6: Women in STEM
I Ada: Rebel, Genius, Visionary by Julia Grey is an imaginative re-telling of the life of Ada Lovelace, a mathematician hailed as the world's first computer programmer and daughter of Lord Byron.
The book portrays Ada as a strong, independent, and stubborn character, making her a compelling role model. It delves into her frustrations, her remarkable mind, and her relationships, echoing the experiences of today's children and teenagers.
The story contains powerful feminist themes, with all key characters being women, including Ada herself, her fiercely intelligent philanthropist mother, and her mother's friends.
The book also explores Ada's longing to know more about her father, the renowned poet Lord Byron, who died when she was nine years old.
A witty and poignant portrayal of Ada Lovelace's life and I very much enjoyed it.
.
I Ada: Rebel, Genius, Visionary by Julia Grey is an imaginative re-telling of the life of Ada Lovelace, a mathematician hailed as the world's first computer programmer and daughter of Lord Byron.
The book portrays Ada as a strong, independent, and stubborn character, making her a compelling role model. It delves into her frustrations, her remarkable mind, and her relationships, echoing the experiences of today's children and teenagers.
The story contains powerful feminist themes, with all key characters being women, including Ada herself, her fiercely intelligent philanthropist mother, and her mother's friends.
The book also explores Ada's longing to know more about her father, the renowned poet Lord Byron, who died when she was nine years old.
A witty and poignant portrayal of Ada Lovelace's life and I very much enjoyed it.
.
January 21, 2023
Admittedly, I am not usually a fan of Young Adult books and read this one for a book club. So many YA books focus on the internal dialogue of an adolescent and I get bored reading about their repetitive thoughts. The upside of this book was it was very well written and it sparked so much curiosity in me about the poet Lord Byron and his daughter Ada Lovelace who is known as the world’s first female computer programmer. I wish this book would have centered less on the mundanity of Ada’s childhood and adolescence and more on her remarkable influence in the world of science as a woman in the 1800’s.
September 2, 2021
i liked many things about this. i thought ada as a character was very interesting (although i could not emphatize with her too much at times, she was quite peculiar) and i thought the portrayal of her mother especially very intriguing. their relationship was very turbulent and double-edged and i think that was very realistic. i liked that byron was neither depicted as a hero, nor as a villain, and the way ada engaged with her legacy. sometimes, the whole thing seemed a little too thought through and some of the ideas ada suddenly has seemed at the same time too rational and not realistic.
one thing i thought quite funny was the fact that ada and her mother visit hofwyl at one point, a school in switzerland. it still is a school and i even know people who go there. what a coincidence!
one thing i thought quite funny was the fact that ada and her mother visit hofwyl at one point, a school in switzerland. it still is a school and i even know people who go there. what a coincidence!
December 12, 2021
Ada Lovelace is a historical figure that I've always wanted to know more about and this felt like a good introduction to her.
It was interesting learning more about her and her childhood, especially her relationship with her parents.
I definitely want to learn more about her!
It was interesting learning more about her and her childhood, especially her relationship with her parents.
I definitely want to learn more about her!
January 10, 2022
Nice story of the early years of Ada Lovelace. Unfortunately not enough information on her working with Charles Babbage for us interested computer scientists.
August 20, 2020
Firstly I would like to say thank you to Rob from Anderson Press for providing me with a copy for review. I, Ada comes out in September 2020 and is a gripping story about the portrayal of a young Ada Lovelace, a 19th Century mathematician who became the world’s first computer programmer.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Dates Read: One sitting 20th August 2020
I was really hooked reading this book, I devoured it within the day. I found it quick paced and just the right length for the story. This book appears at first as a coming of age story about Ada Lovelace- then Ada Byron- but by the end of this story you understand it to be a heartbreaking tale of events about the young mathematician, and her relationships not only with the people surrounding her but also with science and technology.
I found Ada’s character interesting, she was both headstrong and wilful yet submissive to her mother’s demands, which at times were overbearing and harsh. We see her relationship with her mother in a brutal light throughout this book, and at times it infuriates you as the reader, but by the end you start to understand the heartbreaking reason why her mother is that way. Throughout the first half of this book, her father Lord Byron is a kind of illustrious figure in her life, absent in person but shadowing her throughout the book through their name and reputation of fame. It was intriguing to read how her view of her father morphs as she gets older and how she contends with all the information she picks up here and there, and I feel for her by the end when it’s revealed what time of man he really was. At the beginning I found it really difficult to connect with the way her mother’s mind seems to work and the way she raises Ada, and towards the end, despite knowing why she acts the way she did in an almost fear like response of her husband, I still felt I couldn’t quite forgive all her decisions.
There wasn’t really much of a romantic relationship within this book apart from the brief affair with Ada and James Hopkins (who in real life was called William Turner) which results in only negative consequences. I feel for Ada in this, she was young and in love for the first time and you could see the struggle she had in letting go despite her mother and those around her saying it was for the best, and I think subconsciously she also believed that too. You only got a brief look into her marriage to William Lovelace at the end, but the author wrote a summary afterward which goes into much more depth about the life she has before her death both romantically with William, and with her career and achievements.
For a long time reading this book I was hoping that there would be much more of Ada actually working on and with the machine with Mr Babbage, and when we got some story surrounding that, it was at the briefest, so for me personally I was wanting more story surrounding that.
This book is considered Young Adult from ages 12 and up, and I actually believe this could be a good book for people to read and learn a bit about her as a person. It is a fictional book and every event that happens in it is written by the Author of this book, but some of the events are written around truth.
I felt like I was reading an almost type of memoir throughout this book, which I think was the intention almost, to show the story about an important young woman in history, with less sugar coating but also enough fiction to create a tale. The afterword of this book was very helpful for me in filling some of the blanks and also refreshing the knowledge I do know, about Ada Lovelace, and it was intriguing to learn more about her.
Overall, I gave this book 3.5 stars. I found it a very worthwhile read and highly recommend it to anyone interested in Young Adult contemporaries and historical fiction. Thank you again to Anderson Press for sending me a copy of this book!
Rating: 3.5 stars
Dates Read: One sitting 20th August 2020
I was really hooked reading this book, I devoured it within the day. I found it quick paced and just the right length for the story. This book appears at first as a coming of age story about Ada Lovelace- then Ada Byron- but by the end of this story you understand it to be a heartbreaking tale of events about the young mathematician, and her relationships not only with the people surrounding her but also with science and technology.
I found Ada’s character interesting, she was both headstrong and wilful yet submissive to her mother’s demands, which at times were overbearing and harsh. We see her relationship with her mother in a brutal light throughout this book, and at times it infuriates you as the reader, but by the end you start to understand the heartbreaking reason why her mother is that way. Throughout the first half of this book, her father Lord Byron is a kind of illustrious figure in her life, absent in person but shadowing her throughout the book through their name and reputation of fame. It was intriguing to read how her view of her father morphs as she gets older and how she contends with all the information she picks up here and there, and I feel for her by the end when it’s revealed what time of man he really was. At the beginning I found it really difficult to connect with the way her mother’s mind seems to work and the way she raises Ada, and towards the end, despite knowing why she acts the way she did in an almost fear like response of her husband, I still felt I couldn’t quite forgive all her decisions.
There wasn’t really much of a romantic relationship within this book apart from the brief affair with Ada and James Hopkins (who in real life was called William Turner) which results in only negative consequences. I feel for Ada in this, she was young and in love for the first time and you could see the struggle she had in letting go despite her mother and those around her saying it was for the best, and I think subconsciously she also believed that too. You only got a brief look into her marriage to William Lovelace at the end, but the author wrote a summary afterward which goes into much more depth about the life she has before her death both romantically with William, and with her career and achievements.
For a long time reading this book I was hoping that there would be much more of Ada actually working on and with the machine with Mr Babbage, and when we got some story surrounding that, it was at the briefest, so for me personally I was wanting more story surrounding that.
This book is considered Young Adult from ages 12 and up, and I actually believe this could be a good book for people to read and learn a bit about her as a person. It is a fictional book and every event that happens in it is written by the Author of this book, but some of the events are written around truth.
I felt like I was reading an almost type of memoir throughout this book, which I think was the intention almost, to show the story about an important young woman in history, with less sugar coating but also enough fiction to create a tale. The afterword of this book was very helpful for me in filling some of the blanks and also refreshing the knowledge I do know, about Ada Lovelace, and it was intriguing to learn more about her.
Overall, I gave this book 3.5 stars. I found it a very worthwhile read and highly recommend it to anyone interested in Young Adult contemporaries and historical fiction. Thank you again to Anderson Press for sending me a copy of this book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2020
I was sent a copy of this book for review.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
I really enjoyed this book. It is based on the early life and experiences of Ada Lovelace from her ages 5 to 19. It is broke up into sections covering different important sections of her education, life, romance, family and her growing love for mathematics and science. It includes as much historical fact that can be obtained and then beautifully crafted fiction fills in the gaps. I felt like I was in the 19th century as the world in which Ada lived was richly described and the details of the locations, famous people and the equipment that Ada interacted with were painted in such a vivid way.
I have had a fascination with Ada Lovelace since I watched a short documentary a few years ago and this book only made me more curious as the intimate story of her past brought Ada to life for me. She was a lonely, inquisitive, intelligent and strong woman who against all odds: her gender, the era she was born and the fact that she had to contend with the rumours surrounding her infamous father Lord Byron, managed to excel at mathematics and science, develop and improve upon others' work and ultimately created the basis for the first computer which all computers today stem from. A major feet for anyone and doubly so for a woman in the 19th century. Even though she suffered with her health throughout her life and had a very controlling mother, she stayed steadfast in her quest for knowledge, invention and happiness and you can really get the sense of her drive in this story.
This book was 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 for me. It might be aimed at a younger audience but I found it insightful, compelling, and wonderfully written and a true tribute to Ada. The fictional parts were treated respectfully and nothing was out of the realm of possibility. I also liked that Lord Byron was included in the story but as an accompaniment and not as a focus point. Ada Lovelace was a pioneer of her time and a role model for all women today. It shows that we don’t have to accept what is expected of us, we can achieve our goals regardless.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
I really enjoyed this book. It is based on the early life and experiences of Ada Lovelace from her ages 5 to 19. It is broke up into sections covering different important sections of her education, life, romance, family and her growing love for mathematics and science. It includes as much historical fact that can be obtained and then beautifully crafted fiction fills in the gaps. I felt like I was in the 19th century as the world in which Ada lived was richly described and the details of the locations, famous people and the equipment that Ada interacted with were painted in such a vivid way.
I have had a fascination with Ada Lovelace since I watched a short documentary a few years ago and this book only made me more curious as the intimate story of her past brought Ada to life for me. She was a lonely, inquisitive, intelligent and strong woman who against all odds: her gender, the era she was born and the fact that she had to contend with the rumours surrounding her infamous father Lord Byron, managed to excel at mathematics and science, develop and improve upon others' work and ultimately created the basis for the first computer which all computers today stem from. A major feet for anyone and doubly so for a woman in the 19th century. Even though she suffered with her health throughout her life and had a very controlling mother, she stayed steadfast in her quest for knowledge, invention and happiness and you can really get the sense of her drive in this story.
This book was 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 for me. It might be aimed at a younger audience but I found it insightful, compelling, and wonderfully written and a true tribute to Ada. The fictional parts were treated respectfully and nothing was out of the realm of possibility. I also liked that Lord Byron was included in the story but as an accompaniment and not as a focus point. Ada Lovelace was a pioneer of her time and a role model for all women today. It shows that we don’t have to accept what is expected of us, we can achieve our goals regardless.
August 1, 2021
As a big fan of Ada Lovelace, I was really excited to read this book, and I was not disappointed!
Don’t let the age category fool you, this book is intelligently and splendidly written, with complex portrayals of its characters and debates, and is therefore enjoyable for all ages!
Although creative license is taken with some details, as is always necessary with historical fiction, the facts and personalities of the characters seem very accurately portrayed. The subject of Ada’s dichotomy between her connection to her late father, and her desire to please her straight minded mother is portrayed with nuance and is manifested in her unique intellectual stance, dubbed herself as poetical science. The wonderful inner workings of Ada’s mind come through in the clever language, painting a picture of the bright, passionate and modern thinking women she was.
The thing I really loved about this book, and the thing that surprised me the most was the nuanced portrayal of Annabella Milbanke. Whilst strict and unlikeable for much of the novel, her reasoning behind her control of Ada is revealed to have roots in her unpleasant marriage to Lord Byron, and a desire to truly protect her daughter. It made me think about her in a very different light to how I did before, and I liked how Ada developed from seeing her mother as a villain and her father as wonderful, to being able to view them for who they really were, and still being proud of them. I would also have loved to see more of Ada’s marriage to William King, although there are some very sweet scenes between them towards the end, depicting what was known to be a very happy marriage.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 31, 2020
I, Ada tells the story of Ada Lovelace, known as the world’s first computer programmer, as she grows up with a strict mother, an absent but famous father, Lord Byron, and a need to find a purpose for herself. She doesn’t understand the traditional rules for ladies in the early 19th Century, and is very interested in maths and inventions and economics. With a quick mind full of ideas, she is a fun and interesting character. A modern feminist for her time.
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I really enjoyed this book, Ada is a great narrator. She is growing up in a time when propriety, marriage and reputation were so important to how women were viewed, but she knows she is worth more and has the capability to be more than just this. She is often irritated by her mother and her rules, and yet doesn’t really push against her. I enjoyed her mother’s character, and the differences shown between the two women. Both brilliant and clever women, but with very different personalities and ideas on how best to use their knowledge and education.
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The story covers her life from the ages of five to twenty, but it doesn’t feel rushed. The story is well written and moves at a good pace as Ada tries to find her future calling. She is living with the reputation of a notorious father she knows nothing about, and I liked her questioning and determination to find out more.
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I would definitely recommend I, Ada. It is an interesting story for a very interesting woman.
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Thank you to Kaleidoscopic Tours for organising the book tour I was involved with, and to Andersen Press and Julia Gray for the gifted copy I received.
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I really enjoyed this book, Ada is a great narrator. She is growing up in a time when propriety, marriage and reputation were so important to how women were viewed, but she knows she is worth more and has the capability to be more than just this. She is often irritated by her mother and her rules, and yet doesn’t really push against her. I enjoyed her mother’s character, and the differences shown between the two women. Both brilliant and clever women, but with very different personalities and ideas on how best to use their knowledge and education.
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The story covers her life from the ages of five to twenty, but it doesn’t feel rushed. The story is well written and moves at a good pace as Ada tries to find her future calling. She is living with the reputation of a notorious father she knows nothing about, and I liked her questioning and determination to find out more.
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I would definitely recommend I, Ada. It is an interesting story for a very interesting woman.
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Thank you to Kaleidoscopic Tours for organising the book tour I was involved with, and to Andersen Press and Julia Gray for the gifted copy I received.
May 6, 2021
3 stars.
I went into this book expecting to read more about Ada's brilliant inventions or even her notorious father lord Byron but it was mainly about her eventful teen years. She seemed to have struggled with health issues, both mentally and physically and her rocky relationship with her mother didn't make things easier. A lot of their issues stem from a lack of communication which then gets resolved with a single letter in the last 10 pages. It irked me how a letter made her fall asleep and think of how much she loves her mother, while she resented her for so long.
Despite that I liked reading about her self discovery and how she kept trying new things to see whether they'd suit her or not. Marriage and motherhood always seemed dull to her and she knew there was more out there to do and discover. It's sad how her bursts of ideas were labeled as fits and illness as if female ingenuity is outlandish. The way she sought to combine mathematics and poetry is fascinating. She essentially turned functions and rational numbers into a language that could be used to form images or sounds, thus coming up with something akin to a computer! A poetic form of science. I wish we got more glimpse into her relationship and work with Charles Bobbage but it was still a fascinating character study of Ada Lovelace.
I went into this book expecting to read more about Ada's brilliant inventions or even her notorious father lord Byron but it was mainly about her eventful teen years. She seemed to have struggled with health issues, both mentally and physically and her rocky relationship with her mother didn't make things easier. A lot of their issues stem from a lack of communication which then gets resolved with a single letter in the last 10 pages. It irked me how a letter made her fall asleep and think of how much she loves her mother, while she resented her for so long.
Despite that I liked reading about her self discovery and how she kept trying new things to see whether they'd suit her or not. Marriage and motherhood always seemed dull to her and she knew there was more out there to do and discover. It's sad how her bursts of ideas were labeled as fits and illness as if female ingenuity is outlandish. The way she sought to combine mathematics and poetry is fascinating. She essentially turned functions and rational numbers into a language that could be used to form images or sounds, thus coming up with something akin to a computer! A poetic form of science. I wish we got more glimpse into her relationship and work with Charles Bobbage but it was still a fascinating character study of Ada Lovelace.
October 3, 2024
This is a good idea for a YA novel, looking at what makes a woman bloom into a key figure from our scientific/computing history without having had the relevant education, or encouragement to do so, and I applaud the intention.
However- it simply lacks the content that would make a young person sit up and pursue any further reading into Ada’s life and contribution. It just doesn’t lift up off the page in any exciting way. It’s not…..intriguing.
And perhaps because what is really intriguing is the impossible ‘what if’ question.
The key known facts, her ill health, Lord Byron’s absenteeism, her mother’s ferocious and peculiar parenting, a string of weird adult ‘mentors’, hot houses a peculiarly sheltered child with natural abilities that are stymied until she is old enough to engage with, and improve upon the works of others - her reward is to be known as a facilitator of Babbage, and his difference engine…… but what if she had been educated, trained, allowed, ……
I think a much better assessment of her life and work is in this Radio 4 ‘in our time’ programme. You’re welcome .
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00...
However- it simply lacks the content that would make a young person sit up and pursue any further reading into Ada’s life and contribution. It just doesn’t lift up off the page in any exciting way. It’s not…..intriguing.
And perhaps because what is really intriguing is the impossible ‘what if’ question.
The key known facts, her ill health, Lord Byron’s absenteeism, her mother’s ferocious and peculiar parenting, a string of weird adult ‘mentors’, hot houses a peculiarly sheltered child with natural abilities that are stymied until she is old enough to engage with, and improve upon the works of others - her reward is to be known as a facilitator of Babbage, and his difference engine…… but what if she had been educated, trained, allowed, ……
I think a much better assessment of her life and work is in this Radio 4 ‘in our time’ programme. You’re welcome .
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00...
September 8, 2020
I knew nothing about Ada Lovelace before starting this book - I didn’t even know she existed. I, Ada does a fantastic job of introducing Ada and having us fall in love with her. She’s strong, independent, stubborn and a genius. What better role model could you ask for?
I love historical fiction which blends fiction with reality so fantastically that you don’t realise how much you’re learning till it’s over and that you are so absorbed in a plausible story. Gray presents an Ada that you can truly believe, you hear her voice and by the end of the novel you can preempt her actions - that’s how well you get to know her!
My only wish was that it didn’t end so abruptly. It’s obviously to keep the book at a decent size and to end on a happy note, but I found the few pages of Ada’s adult life tacked onto the end didn’t do enough for me. I wanted to keep reading.
All in all, Gray fantastically brought Ada to life and has created a YA book that provides such a brilliant role model to young girls.
I love historical fiction which blends fiction with reality so fantastically that you don’t realise how much you’re learning till it’s over and that you are so absorbed in a plausible story. Gray presents an Ada that you can truly believe, you hear her voice and by the end of the novel you can preempt her actions - that’s how well you get to know her!
My only wish was that it didn’t end so abruptly. It’s obviously to keep the book at a decent size and to end on a happy note, but I found the few pages of Ada’s adult life tacked onto the end didn’t do enough for me. I wanted to keep reading.
All in all, Gray fantastically brought Ada to life and has created a YA book that provides such a brilliant role model to young girls.
September 27, 2020
Julia Gray's novel about the childhood and teenage years of Ada Lovelace is narrated by Ada herself, as the title implies. It's a fascinating story and well told. Ada was the daughter of Lord Byron and although she hardly knew her father (her parents separated when she was very young) she inherited his imagination. Thought to be the first computer programmer, she helped develop one of the first computer prototypes - Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. In this novel we find out more about Ada's upbringing - her mathematical studies, the intellectual circles in which she moved, her travels, her love of music and more. I found her mother - Annabella Milbanke Byron - an interesting character. She invested a lot in Ada's education and took a keen interest in social issues such as workers' rights and education. However she was also very strict and critical of her daughter. I also liked the way Gray shows how Ada's interest in the Analytical Engine developed - the way she saw its potential (so obvious to us now) by comparing it to another recent invention, the Jacquard loom.
December 31, 2020
2/5 stars
I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator's voice is the most soothing thing I've ever heard.
In terms of the story though, I was a little disappointed. As an aspiring mathematician, I hoped to see more of her contribution to mathematics and her education rather than the perils of being a rich, white, attractive young lady in 1700-1800s England. I'm also not a big fan of the angsty way Ada treated her mother; for a 'feminist' novel, I found Ada to be quite judgmental to the majority of her fellow female characters (rightly so in some cases) but nevertheless, the fact that the antagonists of this novel were the women rather than the men who implemented and perpetuated the misogynistic values that trapped her just didn't sit right with me. It's probably my privilege of having both parents in my childhood talking, but I rolled my eyes and wanted to skip past everytime Ada glorified her father (which was low-key 1/4 of the novel) and therefore demonize her mother. Why do we always have to glorify people who chose to not be in our lives? Because of course, Lord Byron couldn't do anything wrong. He's perfect. He understands Ada from the grave. He wouldn't have constricted Ada from any of her pursuits, including going to university or not marrying or eloping with her tutor, because he just has such modern values and really sees women as equals.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed at the novel's focus on family drama and secrecy that wasn't really what I expected. Whilst I did enjoy discovering more about Ada Lovelace as a person, I think next time I'll just hit up a biography so I won't have to deal with the very immature angst.
I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator's voice is the most soothing thing I've ever heard.
In terms of the story though, I was a little disappointed. As an aspiring mathematician, I hoped to see more of her contribution to mathematics and her education rather than the perils of being a rich, white, attractive young lady in 1700-1800s England. I'm also not a big fan of the angsty way Ada treated her mother; for a 'feminist' novel, I found Ada to be quite judgmental to the majority of her fellow female characters (rightly so in some cases) but nevertheless, the fact that the antagonists of this novel were the women rather than the men who implemented and perpetuated the misogynistic values that trapped her just didn't sit right with me. It's probably my privilege of having both parents in my childhood talking, but I rolled my eyes and wanted to skip past everytime Ada glorified her father (which was low-key 1/4 of the novel) and therefore demonize her mother. Why do we always have to glorify people who chose to not be in our lives? Because of course, Lord Byron couldn't do anything wrong. He's perfect. He understands Ada from the grave. He wouldn't have constricted Ada from any of her pursuits, including going to university or not marrying or eloping with her tutor, because he just has such modern values and really sees women as equals.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed at the novel's focus on family drama and secrecy that wasn't really what I expected. Whilst I did enjoy discovering more about Ada Lovelace as a person, I think next time I'll just hit up a biography so I won't have to deal with the very immature angst.
September 2, 2020
I,Ada tells the story of a young female who knows her knowledge and education can be used for more than societies norms.
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Living with her strict mother Annabella who follows societies rules and an absent father, we follow Ada from ages 5-20 as she strives to achieve more.
Ada is a great narrator and although very different from her mother they are both great characters and I enjoyed reading them push against each other. In a world when females had strict rules to follow, one keen on mathematics and machines was a rarity
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I enjoyed this book and found it both hopeful and inspiring. To have known herself at such a young age is a great achievement and one i feel we can learn lessons from today. I hope everyone who reads this strives for their best, be it female or male and in whichever area they desire.
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Living with her strict mother Annabella who follows societies rules and an absent father, we follow Ada from ages 5-20 as she strives to achieve more.
Ada is a great narrator and although very different from her mother they are both great characters and I enjoyed reading them push against each other. In a world when females had strict rules to follow, one keen on mathematics and machines was a rarity
.
I enjoyed this book and found it both hopeful and inspiring. To have known herself at such a young age is a great achievement and one i feel we can learn lessons from today. I hope everyone who reads this strives for their best, be it female or male and in whichever area they desire.
December 9, 2020
2.5 Stars
I did enjoy myself while reading, although it took me forever to finish this book. Which is in parts the fault of the 20 thousand exams I had to write and in another part the fault of the way my brain works. As I tend to read from chapter to chapter and then make a little pause before continuing on, so having around 50 chapters is kinda distracting.
Another thing that I hated is that it felt as if all progress we had made characterwise in the plot suddenly vanished. There was a hard cut between the Ada we saw for the majority of the novel and the Ada that acted in the last chapter in the Prologue. And that felt to me as if Julia Gray wrote about an idea she had of Ada Lovelace and than suddenly needed to make her idea fit in with history, which didn't blend in well.
It is a fine novel apart from the ending though.
I did enjoy myself while reading, although it took me forever to finish this book. Which is in parts the fault of the 20 thousand exams I had to write and in another part the fault of the way my brain works. As I tend to read from chapter to chapter and then make a little pause before continuing on, so having around 50 chapters is kinda distracting.
Another thing that I hated is that it felt as if all progress we had made characterwise in the plot suddenly vanished. There was a hard cut between the Ada we saw for the majority of the novel and the Ada that acted in the last chapter in the Prologue. And that felt to me as if Julia Gray wrote about an idea she had of Ada Lovelace and than suddenly needed to make her idea fit in with history, which didn't blend in well.
It is a fine novel apart from the ending though.
August 17, 2023
Ada Byron has a disreputable genius of a father and a restrictive mother. Her father lives abroad and dies when she is young but Ada inherits some of his instability as well as her mother's skill for mathematics. Ada longs to break free of society and become that new thing, a scientist, but she has a path mapped out for her by society. When she meets an inventor called Babbage, Ada is inspired and then realises that she can improve his ideas.
I was asked to read this book with a view for it to be taken up in a school reading programme and I do intend to recommend it. The language is age appropriate and the story very much appealing to the 'Bridgerton' fans with added science. Gray is unable to avoid the scandal associated with Byron himself but it is handled sensitively.
I was asked to read this book with a view for it to be taken up in a school reading programme and I do intend to recommend it. The language is age appropriate and the story very much appealing to the 'Bridgerton' fans with added science. Gray is unable to avoid the scandal associated with Byron himself but it is handled sensitively.
December 9, 2021
Enjoyable fictionalised account, partly based on fact, about the life of Ada Byron, daughter of the famous poet. Narrated in the first person, the story captures the depth of Ada’s inquiring mind, and her tendency to be a progressive thinker, with an interest in mathematical concepts. Credited as being the world’s first computer programmer and raised by a mother who was known to be an equally unique, pioneering and progressive woman of the times, Ada was given extensive opportunities to extend herself from a young age. An interesting insight into life for privileged, intellectually motivated women of wealth, at a time when females were not able to achieve a formal education.
April 18, 2021
I was glad to know more about Ada Lovelace, co-inventor with Charles Babbage of the computer. She was coddled by her blue stocking mother Annabella and possibly regarded as mentally unwell. Being Lord Byron's daughter, you can see why this might have been an anxiety. But Ada survives, learns to be independent and most important, how to marshall her thoughts.
The trouble with fictionalised biography is that it often reads a bit flat and this is true of I Ada. I kept wanting Ada's life to be more dramatic but...it wasn't. Full stop. At least she eventually married - and happily. Palatable biog.
The trouble with fictionalised biography is that it often reads a bit flat and this is true of I Ada. I kept wanting Ada's life to be more dramatic but...it wasn't. Full stop. At least she eventually married - and happily. Palatable biog.
February 14, 2021
As many people will know, I can never resist a book about my absolute favourite, Ada Lovelace. Unlike some other books about her, this one focused mainly on Lovelace’s early life, especially looking at her relationship with her estranged father Byron. This was quite a fun read, especially when we got to almost see inside her ‘Ada-brain’ when it came to her many fascinations. Overall, felt like a good balance of using what was known and believably fictionalising what was not.
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