The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley

The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley is a sparkling historical novel of wild and wonderful mechanical automata,love in a variety of formsand gentle themes of identitywith a cast of fabulous characters. In 1755Abel Cloudesleya London watchmaker and creator of remarkable mechanical automatais mourning his wifeAlicewho died giving birth to their sonZachary. Six years laterAbel is further devastated when a freak workshop accident takes Zachary’s eye. With his new eye made of gold and lapis by Abel’s soft-spoken apprentice TomZacharynow with an astonishing gift of second sightis sent to live with his eccentric Aunt Franny in the country. Abel buries himself in work until he is coerced by shadowy figures into designing a chess-playing automaton and delivering it to Constantinople to spy on the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. After meeting the SultanAbel is not heard from again. Years laterteenage Zachary receives a letter suggesting that his father is still alivea prisoner of the Sultan. Zachary sets off on a perilous journey to the Levantdetermined to find Abel and bring him safely home.