William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s novel «The Difference Engine» is a vivid work of steampunk literature. The authors lead the reader into a world that might have arisen if the computer had been invented in the first half of the 19th century. The alternative history (“what would have happened if...”) told in the novel is layered over the typical features of the traditional English novel: a detective plot, a variety of social types, and the fate of a young woman. Alongside fictional characters, historical figures also appear.