Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
The mid-18th century was the zenith of Enlightenment thinking. Science was racing ahead in every direction, largely freed from the constraints placed upon it in previous centuries by the cold hand of church authority, political turmoil and widely held superstition. Discovery and innovation flourished in the fields of astronomy, anatomy, philosophy, botany, zoology, agriculture, commerce, navigation and literature. The pace of change must have seemed breathtakingly fast to those in the midst of it, though many were, of course, still eking out the barest of livings much as they had for generations - and in those lands newly colonised by European powers the brutality of slavery was often accompanied by grotesque genocidal acts on indigenous populations. A beautifully written fairy tale, I loved every wonderful word in this book and found myself in stunned silence throughout. courtesy IMP Awards) The really great animated films, the one that capture your heart and delight the eyes, are the ones that give you something to really connect to and which make you feel like you’ve come home. Yes, home. That might seem like an odd thing to say about Continue Reading LoveReading exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. I really enjoyed this one, perfect for fans of eccentrically flavoured historical fiction with a just a touch of magic. This is a beautifully written story about a boy born with the ability to see into the minds of the people he meets and that spans 18th-century Europe, from London to Constantinople.
BBC News pays tribute to the Booker Prize-winning novelist, who died in September. Tributes to Hilary MantelAt its considerable heart, The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudsley is a novel that examines, with great empathy and understanding what it means to be connected, not in a charming send a Christmas card once a year kind of way, but in an everything on the line fashion. A dashing, magical debut . . . intricately plotted, and peopled with intriguing characters' - Daily Mail Zachary, plagued by visions, knows he has to find his father. An adventure begins that will also take him to Constantinople.
The prose is very well written, and it is genuinely funny, but the plot wasn't strong enough to hold attention. The father-son relationship is one of the book's strongest features, and I very much felt for Abel's plight. An original coming-of-age tale... enjoyable and imaginative debut' Sunday Times (Historical Fiction Book of the Month) 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.All manner of adventures ensue, including spying on the sultan, infiltrating the harem, and forming helpful alliances against terrifying opponents. I particularly enjoyed strong female characters and descriptions of the 18th century England and Constantinople. Highly-recommended! He is also the bearer of an extraordinary gift; at the touch of a hand, Zachary can see into the hearts and minds of the people he meets.
A beautifully crafted historical mystery of love and hope, and the adventure of finding your place in the world. We follow Zachary Cloudesley from his birth to his return to England after a journey to Constantinople to rescue his father sent on an espionage mission. When his father, Abel, has no choice but to travel to the enigma of a place far away, Constantinople, Zachary cannot help but worry and feel troubled for he can sense betrayal, anger, danger and fear that await his father, hidden amongst the city’s bazaars, palaces and mosques. Abel has no say and no choice, he must leave London and his beloved Zachary. Soon, much treasured and anticipated letters cease to arrive and whispers reach Zachary that his father has gone missing within the city. And so the makers of automata found themselves urged to make ever more human androids, leading to Von Kempelen’s chess playing automaton, ‘The Turk,’ seemingly able to think through the complexities of a chess game and play the world’s grand masters. That this automaton turned out to be a fraud is perhaps less surprising than that for almost 80 years many of the world’s cleverest people believed in its remarkable abilities. Why did they do so? The answer, I think, is because they wanted to believe that an automaton was capable of rivalling, even exceeding human intelligence. Not every novel gets this right – some read so gorgeously that the story and any emotional impact is lost in it, while others prioritise storytelling with a utilitarian ferocity – but The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudsley is flawless in telling a beguilingly unusual but intrinsically human story that reads like a siren song of lusciously poetic construction.Great characters and a fabulous story, feels historically authentic and just enough oddness to appeal to me! Bits of this book will stay with me a long time and I'd definitely recommend it to everyone I know! Well worth the credit! I’ve tried many things in my life – my first job was a gardener, working mainly with trees. I learnt the names of many types of tree, and as a result am able to greet a tree politely. Sean Lusk is an award winning short story writer, winner of the Manchester Fiction Prize and the Fish Short Story Prize. He has lived in Greece, Pakistan and Egypt and now lives in the Scottish Highlands. The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley is his first novel.
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. This is an unusual, wierd, sad journey over a life time by Abel & Zachary Cloudsley and all who come into thier lives. Moon Tiger is Claudia's story, from a childhood just after the First World War through the Second and beyond. Her life is entwined with others and she must allow those who knew her the chance to put across their point of view. There is Gordon, brother and adversary; Jasper, her untrustworthy lover and father of Lisa, her cool conventional daughter. Then there is Tom, her one great love, found and lost in wartime Egypt.His father will have to make a journey to Constantinople that he will never return from" which is not entirely true and doesn't happen until just over the halfway point in the book. "And, years later, only Zachary can find out what happened." but the readers find out well before Zachary does. When she finds her - if she does - she risks betraying grand-daughter Elin, who is far less forgiving of the past, with its hurts and secrets and lies. Meanwhile Grace’s great-grand-daughter Beca is oblivious to all these worries, too busy navigating the highs and lows of teenage life and keeping secrets of her own. In the beginning, I really liked this story and read the first half in a few days, but I felt it lost it's way about halfway through and it took me over a month to finish it off.
Great Deal 
New Comment