Jefffery Archer's "Only Time Will Tell"

Jeffery Archer’s latest offering Only Time Will Tell is a book any woman would love to take to bed, snuggled in the folds of her comforter. That’s a fact the author knows very well, and loves to flaunt with a trademark quip — “I take 50,000 women to bed everyday and I try very hard to keep them awake!” The book fits perfectly into his mould of storytelling, for this is one author who likes to drive home the point that he is a storyteller, not a writer.Archer’s books usually have an autobiographical element, and here too, he doesn’t fail. The author admits that the protagonist, Harry Clifton, has a lot of Jeffery Archer in him. But, remind him that this is the first part of a four-book series spanning a hundred years, and he replies, “That’s because I’m going to live to be a hundred!”A word of caution: if you’re looking for a book that provides mental stimulation in the form of a statement on society, or urges you to reflect on some established beliefs, you just got off at the wrong stop. This book makes no efforts to pontificate and demands little mental effort from its reader. All that it attempts to do is to transport you to the scene of action and elicit reactions that are purely emotional.So you can sit back and immerse yourself into the chronicles of Cli­fton, the way you’d sink into a silver-screen potboiler.The story follows the life of Harry through the voices of the people in his life — his mother Maisie Clifton, Hugo Barr­ington, who might be his real father, Captain Tarrant or Old Jack Tar who is Harry’s real guide in life, his best friend Giles Barrington (who could also be his half-brother), and the one true love of his life Emma Barrington. The narrator’s voice is the one that does most of the story telling, though it is interspersed with first person accounts of the characters.Set in post-First-World-War Britain, the tale revolves around a boy from a humble background who climbs his way to the top, partly through his church-choir voice and partly through his intellect, but mostly because of a mother who would sacrifice anything to see him get there. On the way, he discovers some family secrets that change the course of his life.For instance, when Harry falls for his best friend Giles’s sister Emma, we know that this is a disaster in the making — Giles is, in all probability, Harry’s half brother. But the manner in which this unfortunate truth is revealed upon the young lovers is enough to give you a good jolt.An interesting thing about Archer’s narrative is that he does not take the usual ‘tsk-tsk-tsk’ stand on the poverty that is part of Harry’s life. The emotions are subtly expressed; the dignity with which he presents Maisie Clifton and her efforts at making enough money to educate her son is touching in its simplicity.And that, incidentally, is one of the two things that stand out in Archer’s writing — wit and lack of adornment. This is a story that will keep you hooked, but it will, in spurts, also make you laugh. Keep the popcorn ready; you might just forget that this is a book.