The Diamond Age

The future is that of mastered nanotechnology, with microscopic machines being able to do everything from building houses to curing or killing people as needed. The machines rely on the Source, a sort of a pipeline that feeds matter to the factories producing the machines. States still exist, although they seem to be centered more around ideologies than nations. One thing that seem to be the same as today is people, living the way they always did (rather refreshing, actually, given all those book futures where people behave as weirdos for no apparent reason).

An ageing grandfather sees his granddaughter grow not the way he wants her to be. Being rich, he hires Hackworth, a skilled nanotechnology designer, to create a special gift for his daughter - a book that would supplement her education the way her grandfather would like. Hackworth designs the book but also makes a copy for his own daughter. The copy is stolen and gets to a young girl named Nell, a suffering child living with an indifferent mother and her abusive acquaintances. And the rich grandfather's education starts working wonders ...