Clifton Chronicles series by Jeffrey Archer

The fourth spellbinding book in the epic Clifton Chronicles series was released by Pan MacMillan this week.  I just love this cover - isn't it beautiful.  I am such a terrible cover lover, I was intrigued and had to go and check out this series.


 I watched the You Tube interviews, and I knew I had to get involved with these characters.  The interview with Jeffrey Archer is so good - check it out.  He is such a nice guy!  Here is a link to all four interviews.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6xW-wzb-EzXfnbNJTckpO1hjeZm9L39H 

 As I have not read the series yet, so I decided to get the first in the series, Only Time Will Tell in audiobook form this week.  Look out for my review on this blog in future.
 
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.

Be Careful What You Wish For opens with Harry Clifton and his wife Emma rushing to hospital to learn the fate of their son Sebastian, who has been involved in a fatal car accident. But who died, Sebastian or his best friend Bruno?


When Ross Buchanan is forced to resign as chairman of the Barrington Shipping Company, Emma Clifton wants to replace him. But Don Pedro Martinez intends to install his puppet, the devious Major Alex Fisher, in order to destroy the Barrington family firm just as the company plans to build its new luxury liner, the MV Buckingham.

Back in London, Harry and Emma's adopted daughter wins a scholarship to the Slade Academy of Art where she falls in love with a fellow student, Clive Bingham, who asks her to marry him. Both families are delighted until Priscilla Bingham, Jessica's future mother-in-law, has a visit from an old friend, Lady Virginia Fenwick, who drops her particular brand of poison into the wedding chalice.

Then, without warning, Cedric Hardcastle, a bluff Yorkshireman who no one has come across before, takes his place on the board of Barringtons. This causes an upheaval that none of them could have anticipated, and will change the lives of every member of the Clifton and Barrington families. Hardcastle's first decision is who to support to become the next chairman of the board: Emma Clifton or Major Alex Fisher? And with that decision, the story takes yet another twist that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

About the Author

Educated at Wellington School, Somerset, and Oxford University, Jeffrey Archer gained an athletics Blue, was President of the University Athletics Club, and went on to run the 100 yards in 9.6 seconds for Great Britain in 1966.
Jeffrey has served five years in the House of Commons, twenty-one years in the House of Lords, and two at Her Majesty’s pleasure, during which time he wrote three highly acclaimed Prison Diaries.  His other bestselling novels include Paths of Glory and A Prisoner of Birth. The success of the first three volumes of the Clifton Chronicles confirms that Jeffrey’s books are as popular as ever. Only Time Will Tell, The Sins of the Father and Best Kept Secret reached Number One in the hardback fiction charts and were also huge global successes – in India, Only Time Will Tell was at Number One for twelve weeks; in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa it reached Number One and spent six weeks in the top ten bestseller lists.
Jeffrey is also an amateur auctioneer, conducting around 30 charity auctions a year, and has raised over £40 million for various charities during the past 33 years.
He is married to Dame Mary Archer DBE. They have two sons, and live in London and Cambridge.
www.jeffreyarcher.com
www.facebook.com/JeffreyArcherAuthor
www.twitter.com/Jeffrey_Archer