Click Here To Purchase Only Time Will Tell

Author: Jeffrey Archer

ISBN: 978-0-312-53955-9

(Reviewed from an ARC Copy)

When Maisie Clifton agrees to a one night stand with a total stranger just a few weeks prior to her marriage to Arthur Clifton and when Hugo Barrington's failure to act to save one of his employees from certain death, little did do both realize that their acts would eventually affect the lives of their respective families leaving deep emotional scars resembling a Greek tragedy.

Maisie, who was a virgin, is about to be married to Arthur and she decides that she wants to be deflowered prior to exchanging their marriage vows. Her initial plan is to entice Arthur into the sack, however, on the evening that the experience is to take place, Arthur is too drunk to accommodate his future wife. Disgusted, Maisie walks away from a pub where her future husband and brother Stan are having a grand time drinking. Shortly thereafter, she then realizes that someone is following her, eventually making a pass at her. Maisie accepts the stranger's advances and rationalizes that there is nothing wrong in having sex with someone whom she is not likely to come across again. Moreover, she admits that she is somewhat flattered by his advances.

New York Times best-selling author Jeffrey Archer with his Only Time Will Tell once again exhibits his masterful ability to skillfully weave an entrancing story peopled with characters whose actions become so intertwined that they exact a huge emotional toll with unforeseen long lasting consequences. The novel effortlessly shifts among six characters recounting events from his or her own perspective. There is the sacrificing Maisie Clifton, her sweet son Harry, who is the principal narrator, the mean spirited Hugo Barrington, the mysterious and complex Old Jack Tar, Harry's mischievous friend Giles and son of Hugo Barrington, and sweet Emma Barrington, daughter of Hugo. The setting is in the mid-1930's prior to World War Two and the place is Bristol, England, where Archer vividly depicts the repelling class distinctions that exist between the poor and the rich, and in this case, between the impoverished Clifton family and the affluent Barrington clan.

As the yarn unfolds, Archer introduces his principal protagonist, five-year old Harry Clifton who immediately informs us that he was told that his father had been killed in the war. Apparently, Harry was born eight months after his mother Maisie married Arthur Clifton. Matters become a little dicey when Maisie is not quite certain who is the biological father of her son is and, as we get more into the story, we wonder if Harry is the product of her indiscretion the night she was unfaithful to her future husband.

Harry is not exactly crazy about school, often playing truant. He would rather spend his time hanging around the docks, helping his uncle Stan. What saves Harry from certain destruction is his befriending of an elderly man with a mystifying past, Old Jack Tar. Tar lives in an abandoned railway carriage at the other end of the dock-yard, however, uncle Stan strongly disapproves Tar, whom he considers to be a stupid dirty old tramp and thus advices Harry to keep away from him. Nonetheless, Harry takes a liking to the old codger and regularly visits him on Saturdays, accepting his advice to regularly attend school and to put more effort into his studies. Harry is fortunate in that he has a gift, the voice of an angel, which, as we discover, will help him obtain a scholarship to St. Bede's, one of the fashionable English boarding schools. It is at St. Bede's that he comes in contact with Giles Barrington and another lad, Deakins. Harry wonders if Giles is related to the three men who seem to know the truth about how his father had died and asks himself, “if so, was he cut from the same cloth as his father, or his grandfather.”

Only Time Will Tell is classic Archer writing as he explores the complexity and fragility of human relationships. Each scene is excellently rendered and no words are squandered as we are swept into the saga with a credible image of the divergences pertaining to conduct, garb, and life styles of the poor and the rich, and where the “good guys” don't always finish first. His feel for minutiae and narrative pacing is faultless. In addition, Archer cleverly and delicately goads his readers into addressing a wide spectrum of deep and resonant serious issues with universal implications such as sacrifice, accountability, honesty, transparency, loyalty, and determination. To boot, we have a poignant love story thrown in that is just begging for Archer to follow up with a sequel to this yarn. Will there be one?