Only Time Will Tell

The first novel in the Clifton Chronicles, an ambitious new series that tells the story of a family across generations and oceans, from heartbreak to triumph, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Archer

The epic tale of Harry Cliftons 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 and expects to continue on at the shipyard, until a remarkable gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys school, and his life will never be the same again...

“If there were a nobel prize for storytelling, Archer would win.”—Daily Telegraph (London)

As Harry enters into adulthood, he 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, or the firstborn son of a scion of West Country society, whose family owns a shipping line? From the ravages of the Great War and the docks of working-class England to the streets of 1940 New York City and the outbreak of the Second World War, this is a powerful journey that will bring to life one hundred years of history to reveal a family story that neither the reader nor Harry Clifton himself could ever have imagined.

“Archer is a master entertainer.”—Time

Praise for

JEFFREY ARCHER

“One of the top ten storytellers in the world.” —Los Angeles Times

“There isnt a better story-teller alive.” —Larry King

“Archer plots with skill, and keeps you turning the pages.” —The Boston Globe

“Cunning plots, silken style…. Archer plays a cat-and-mouse game with the reader.” —The New York Times

“Archer is a master entertainer.” —Time

“A storyteller in the class of Alexandre Dumas…unsurpassed skill.” —Washington Post

And his novels

SHALL WE TELL THE PRESIDENT?

“Outrageous and top-notch terror.” —Vogue

“The only difference between this book and The Day of the Jackal is that Archer is a better writer.”—Chicago Tribune

“Authentic, literate, and scary.”—Cosmopolitan

“The countdown is the thing; the pace, the pursuit, the what-next, the how-is-it-going-to-come-out…”—Boston Globe

“Holds the reader in a vicelike grip.”—Penthouse

A PRISONER OF BIRTH

“A compelling read.” —Newsday

 “Dynamite…plot twists and a slam-bang finale.”—The Washington Post 

“Archer plots with skill, and keeps you turning the pages.” —The Boston Globe

“Thoroughly enjoyable.”—Publishers Weekly

“Compulsively readable.”—Library Journal 

“Gripping.”—The Vancouver Sun

“An exercise in wish fulfillment. The good may suffer, but the bad will get theirs in the end. The fun is watching it unfold.”—St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

CAT ONINE TALES

“Archer plots with skill, and keeps you turning the pages.” —The Boston Globe

“The economy and precision of Archers prose never fails to delight. The criminal doesnt always get away with his crime and justice doesnt always prevail, but the reader wins with each and every story.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

FALSE IMPRESSION

“A worthy successor to The Da Vinci Code.”—Liz Smith, New York Post

“Archer is back in top form with [this] latest thriller.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“Thoroughly imagined...entertaining...thrilling.” —Denver Post

“Murder and a high-stakes art-world theft are cleverly blended [in this] exciting...global thrill-ride.” —Vancouver Sun

“Sail along from one high crime to the next....Archer is a great plotter....[and] in the middle of the action, [he] drops research gems.”—Liz Smith, New York Post

From the internationally bestselling author Jeffrey Archer comes Only Time Will Tell, the first in the ambitious Clifton Chronicles series that tells the story of one family across generations, across oceans, from heartbreak to triumph.

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 engrossing 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.

Only Time Will Tell

Jeffrey Archer 

The first novel in the Clifton Chronicles, an ambitious new series that tells the story of a family across generations and oceans, from heartbreak to triumph, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Archer

The epic tale of Harry Cliftons 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 and expects to continue on at the shipyard, until a remarkable gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys school, and his life will never be the same again...

As Harry enters into adulthood, he 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, or the firstborn son of a scion of West Country society, whose family owns a shipping line? From the ravages of the Great War and the docks of working-class England to the streets of 1940 New York City and the outbreak of the Second World War, this is a powerful journey that will bring to life one hundred years of history to reveal a family story that neither the reader nor Harry Clifton himself could ever have imagined.

JEFFREY ARCHER was educated at Oxford University. He has served five years in Britains House of Commons and fourteen years in the House of Lords. All of his novels and short story collections—including And Thereby Hangs a Tale, A Prisoner of Birth, and Kane & Abel—have been international bestsellers. Archer is married with two sons and lives in London and Cambridge.