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A beautifully written fairy tale, I loved every wonderful word in this book and found myself in stunned silence throughout.
Escape into books with 16 winter reads from Between the Covers
I liked how when a new character appeared, so did a description of them. It cemented each one in my mind straight away. The story isn’t just set in England, it travels much further through a perilous Europe. The weeks and months that it took kept me rooted in the 1700s. These days we forget just how big the world is. Set in the mid to late 18th century, this historical fiction book has a hint of magical realism coupled with a fairy tale whiff about it. This beautiful novel with a touch of magic, well-developed characters and set in the 18th century England and Constantinople was a real treat for me. Zachary, a motherless boy receives all love he can have from those who surround him and develops an amazing gift that is not always a blessing. Perhaps,’ said Abel, reluctant to believe that Zachary suffered from such an outlandish affliction.I particularly enjoyed strong female characters and descriptions of the 18th century England and Constantinople. Highly-recommended! It is unusual yet totally captivating with an interesting plot and good pacing. All the characters were intriguing and although the main focus is on Zachary Cloudesley and his father Abel the side characters also had such intetesting and different tales to tell and yet their lives were inextricably linked. Zachary is a gifted, brilliant little boy, the kind of child who will read anything he can find and probably remember most of it. The publicity for the story reveals that Zachary later loses the sight in one eye and develops a kind of clairvoyance, although he never seems quite certain what is true or not. When a life-changing accident happens to Zachary, Abel blames himself but, it leaves Zachary with yet another gift, one where he can see the future. To protect his son Abel makes a bad choice that is jumped upon by someone in high government and puts Abel in a terrible position.
The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk book The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk book
But then a near-fatal accident will take Zachary away from the workshop and his family. His father will have to make a journey that he will never return from. And, years later, only Zachary can find out what happened. Please feel free to leave a comment to this book review below. Or even leave your own review if you like.I was drawn to The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by the setting – 18th century Constantinople – but I wasn’t sure that it would really be my sort of book. From the blurb, I was expecting a strong magical realism element, something I don’t always get on with. However, I was pleased to find that this aspect of the novel was actually much more subtle than I’d expected. Before we start on the content of the book – let’s just say I LOVE the cover of the proof – so can only imagine the beauty of the finished article. Abel Cloudesley, knowing his son to be well-cared for takes on a dangerous job in Constantinople, which is going to change his life and that of his son. All manner of adventures ensue, including spying on the sultan, infiltrating the harem, and forming helpful alliances against terrifying opponents.
Chloë Dowman’s review of The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley
This is a wonderful book. It starts with a beautiful cover, and only gets better. The premise of the story is reasonably straightforward, but with the added layer of second sight it gets really interesting. Lusk's writing style is great, conveying plenty of details without becoming slow and hard to read. The characters are fascinating too as well as all the outputs from the workshop. The writing style takes some getting used to, and it wasn't a book I could read when I was tired! But I loved the writing, as it comes through as extremely authentic from the time. I enjoyed Abel's portion of the book, and wished we stayed with him more, but found, despite being the titular character, I didn't much like Zachary, and, as other reviewers have mentioned, his "second sight" wasn't capitalised. The other characters were not entirely likeable either, and at 76%, I am still left unsure about Mrs Morely and Lady Peake-Barnes.Then a near-fatal accident causes his father to doubt his parenting skills further and to flee to Constantinople and nver return. Can Zachary ever discover what happened to the only parent he has left? I don't want to put anyone off reading the book, but by the same token do not feel in a position to recommend it to anyone. The year is 1754. He has had an interesting life already, having spent time in Constantinople, and as the story progresses, he ends up there again. But first, the baby. Zachary. His mother, Alice, dies as she delivers him. Abel doesn’t know what to do.
The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley - LoveReading The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley - LoveReading
Abel is devoted to Zachary but doesn’t understand him at all. His unusual young apprentice, Tom, tries to explain the boy in a language Abel will understand.I was mesmerised by this whole story, Zachary and his second sight and the inventions that were part of his life. There are so many personal stories going on in the book. Yet because each of these characters is so unique, it never became overpowering or confused. The blurb sounded fabulous, and whilst there is an enjoyable introduction to him, I did find myself getting a little impatient waiting for the main premise of the story to come through. I did enjoy some of the characters, particularly Frankie and Mrs Morley, but ultimately there were too many of them; too many side plots and it became overly confusing trying to keep it all straight. That was probably my fault for reading it so slowly, but then again, I did so because it had stopped entertaining me. All that said, many others have loved it. I would be willing to try the author again, this is a debut, and I did like it to begin with.
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