This is very good and a lot better than no.1039.
Set in the late 18th century in London, Istanbul, and elsewhere, it involves a clockmaker Abel, his son Zachary, his mother-in-law Frances, and various other strongly drawn characters.
Hard to summarise the plot, Abel’s wife dies in childbirth and Zachary is essentially adopted by the eccentric and very liberated Frances, while his father is tricked into travelling to Istanbul to use one of his mechanical devices to spy on the Turks. This doesn’t work and Abel is imprisoned in the seraglio there.
Zachary, who has visionary powers flees to Istanbul to somehow free his father, which he succeeds in achieving. They all return to England and live happily ever after.
Very hard to summarise, it is better than this sounds. The characters all have very 20th century sensibilities, especially Frances who is a feminist intellectual; Zachary, it transpires, is gay and falls in love with a Turk while in Istanbul and they too are reunited at the end.
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