The Time Alchemist of Lisbon by N.M. Ferreira

For fans of The Pillars of the Earth and The Name of the Rose

1372: Master Jean arrives in Lisbon an exile: a brilliant French clockmaker fleeing a war and a love who chose security over dreams. Now known as João, he accepts a commission from King Ferdinand to build Portugal's first mechanical clock-a chance to master time, since he cannot control fate.

But as the gears take shape beneath the Lisbon Cathedral, João discovers complexities that reach beyond bronze and iron. Isabel, the stonemason's daughter, sees past his genius to the wounded man beneath. And when he uncovers a dark conspiracy to silence the clock-one tied to secrets older than the Kingdom itself-João realizes the mechanism he is building has become a symbol worth killing for.