6 reviews for Only Time will Tell
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Only Time will Tell
by Jefrey Archer
Description:
The epic tale of Harry Clifton’s life begins in 1920, with the words I was told that my father was killed in the war. A dock worker in Bristol, Harry never knew his father, but he learns about life on the docks from his uncle, who expects Harry to join him at the shipyard once he’s left school. But then an unexpected gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys’ school, and his life will never be the same again.
As he enters into adulthood, Harry finally learns how his father really died, but the awful truth only leads him to question, was he even his father? Is he the son of Arthur Clifton, a stevedore who spent his whole life on the docks, or the firstborn son of a scion of West Country society, whose family owns a shipping line?
This introductory novel in Archer’s ambitious series The Clifton Chronicles includes a cast of colorful characters and takes us from the ravages of the Great War to the outbreak of the Second World War, when Harry must decide whether to take up a place at Oxford or join the navy and go to war with Hitler’s Germany. From the docks of working-class England to the bustling streets of 1940 New York City, Only Time Will Tell takes readers on a journey through to future volumes, which will bring to life one hundred years of recent history to reveal a family story that neither the reader nor Harry Clifton himself could ever have imagined.
About The Author
Archer wrote his first book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, in the autumn of 1974, as a means of avoiding bankruptcy. The book was picked up by the literary agent Deborah Owen and published first in the US, then eventually in Britain in the autumn of 1976. A BBC Television adaptation of the book was broadcast in 1990, and a radio adaptation was aired on BBC Radio 4 in the early 1980s.
Kane and Abel (1979) proved to be his best-selling work, reaching number one on The New York Times bestsellers list. Like most of his early work it was edited by Richard Cohen, the Olympic fencing gold-medallist. It was made into a television mini-series by CBS in 1985, starring Peter Strauss and Sam Neill. The following year, Granada TV screened a ten-part adaptation of another Archer bestseller, First Among Equals, which told the story of four men and their quest to become Prime Minister. In the U.S. edition of the novel, the character of Andrew Fraser was eliminated, reducing the number of protagonists to three.
As well as novels and short stories, Archer has also written three stage plays. The first, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, opened in 1987 and ran at the Queen’s Theatre in London’s West End for over a year. However, Archer’s next play, Exclusive, was not well received by critics, and closed after a few weeks. His final play, The Accused, opened at the Theatre Royal, Windsor on 26 September 2000, before transferring to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in the West End in December.
Archer has stated that he spends considerable time writing and re-writing each book. He goes abroad to write the first draft, working in blocks of two hours at a time, then writes anything up to seventeen drafts in total. In 1988 author Kathleen Burnett accused Archer of plagiarising a story she’d written and including it in his short-story collection, A Twist in the Tale. Archer denied he had plagiarised the story, claiming he’d simply been inspired by the idea.
It has been suggested that Archer’s books undergo an extensive editing process prior to publication. Whilst Archer’s books are commercially successful, critics have been generally unfavourable towards his writing. However, journalist Hugo Barnacle, writing for The Independent about The Fourth Estate (1996), thought the novel, while demonstrating that “the editors don’t seem to have done any work”, was “not wholly unsatisfactory”.
Since 2010, Archer has written the first draft of each new book at his luxury villa in Majorca, called “Writer’s Block”.
In 2011, Archer published the first of seven books in The Clifton Chronicles, which follow the life of Harry Clifton from his birth in 1920, through to the finale in 2020. The first novel in the series, Only Time Will Tell, tells the story of Harry from 1920 through to 1940, and was published in the UK on 12 May 2011. The sixth instalment, Cometh the Hour, was published on 25 February 2016. The final novel in the series, This Was a Man, was published on 3 November 2016.
Archer’s next novel has been provisionally titled Heads You Win, and will be published in 2017, along with another volume of short stories.
Skryf Review
“Good Reading”
Sejal
I took up reading, and have averaged one novel a week. The authors I enjoy include Vince Flynn, Lee Child, John Grisham, David Baldacci, Brad Thor, Daniel Silva, Nelson DeMille, Alex Berenson,Steve Martini, Joel Rosenberg, and Robert Ludlum. In December 2012, I read my first Jeffrey Archer novel and am now hooked. He is the best story teller I have read in the past two years. I loved Honor Among Thieves, Sons of Fortune, and Prisoner of Birth. However, his new trilogy CLIFTON CHRONICLES is just superb. He allows the reader to really get involved with the characters. I feel like I am almost a member of the Clifton clan. ONLY TIME WILL TELL is the 1st of the three novels Mr. Archer has written regarding the Cliftons. His 2nd Clifton novel, THE SINS OF THE FATHER, is equally engrossing. Although the plots are not “hair-raising” as those by many of the authors mentioned previously, they are masterfully written in a manner that causes me to turn the pages as rapidly as possible. Absolutely mesmerizing. I am really looking forward to the 3rd novel of the Clifton Chronicles, BEST KEPT SECRET, due this Spring. Jeffrey Archer has become my favorite author.
Naman
“Some people stand by you in your darkest hour, while others walk away; only a select few march toward you and become even closer friends.”“Only Time Will Tell” – to say I enjoyed reading this first book in the Clifton Chronicles would be an understatement. Jeffrey Archer is a master storyteller: Clean, captivating writing; clever interwoven plot(s); and well-developed characters of great distinction. Whether loved or despised, I was fully entranced by, and invested in each character’s history, actions, reasoning, mannerisms, strengths, weaknesses and nuances. I absolutely agree with my friend Judi: I love this novel! I’m thrilled to have read it. And I’m even more thrilled San Diego County Library system has every book in series. Such an epic tale – the Clifton’s and Barrington’s – defies concise categorization; drama, mystery, history, family-saga, friendship, culture, love, suspense . . . all standout elements. You could even add war as a sub-category; the first half of the story is influenced by aftereffects of WWI, and the latter half ushers in the Second World War. Speaking of latter halves – Gadzooks – what a plot twist!!! Talk about a cliffhanger that makes you yell: “NO WAY!! WHAT?????????” Archer certainly knows how to insure next in series sales! And Jeffrey Archer knows how to write a FIVE STAR story that casts a wide reader-appeal net.
Abbas
This saga is the first in what is to be at least a three-book set (quite possibly more) entitled the Clifton Chronicles, centered around the character Harry Clifton. Relatively plotless, the story was however so engaging it was difficult to put down, with the interesting technique of revealing the tale little by little from different character’s points of view. We hear from Harry’s mother Maisie, his best friend Giles, Gile’s sister Emma, Gile’s father Hugo, Harry’s friend “Old Jack”, and from Harry himself on a couple of different occasions. Spanning the period between the world wars (roughly 1920-1940) and set in Britain, this first book traces Harry’s school career to his likelihood of entering the Navy as it seems war with Hitler is on the horizon. The struggles of his mother to finance Harry’s upbringing (his father is dead) are particularly engrossing, and the intrigue of Harry’s father’s circumstances add an element of suspense to this entertaining novel, which ends with a bombshell of a cliffhanger! Like most readers, we can hardly await the second installment!
Tisha
The story involves Harry, as he grows from an angelic choirboy into an intelligent, hardworking young man faced with the difficult choice of going to Oxford upon graduation from the US equivalent of high school, or joining the armed forces as Britain enters the war against Hitler. His romance with the sister of his best friend, together with some of the aforementioned story twists makes his choice even more difficult. Harry’s mother, a hard-working widow, who takes a series of back-breaking jobs to help with Harry’s expenses, is harboring a secret about Harry’s parentage. This secret, if revealed could destroy lives, and Archer skillfully weaves his story around it.My only problem with the book was the absolutely sucker punch ending. I was left gasping, yelling “Don’t do that to me!!.” I will be among thousands lined up to get my hands on the second book in the series to find out what happens next. The Clifton Chronicles promises to keep us all enthralled for several years to come.
Pooja
What a fantastic book. Not just in plot, but in nuance too. This was the first book I read by Jeffrey Archer, but I have every intention of reading many more after this one. Therein lies the proof of amazing writing and a thorough understanding of how people think. These characters are extremely well developed. We are even given a chance to look into the world through the eyes of the book’s villain. Each character’s story fills in gaps left in previous issues because either that character didn’t think it was that important or because the previous narrator didn’t know. This gives the story a mild sense of mystery and a huge sense of the inter-connectedness of people. This is a story about coincidences, about what people will do for love, about how life can go full circle, and how people get their due. This is a story about friendship, about the way different events are important to different people, and about how the actions of others – that we don’t even know about – can affect so many aspects of our lives. This is a story about unfortunate circumstances, about class bigotry, and about redemption. This is a beautifully written book.