The Clifton Chronicles is Jeffrey Archer's most ambitious work in four decades as an international bestselling author. The epic tale of Harry Clifton's life begins in 1919, in the backstreets of Bristol. His father was a war hero, but it will be twenty-one tumultuous years before Harry discovers the truth about how his father really died and if, in fact, he even was his father. Only Time Will Tell takes a cast of memorable characters from the ravages of the Great War to the outbreak of the Second World War, when Harry must decide whether to take his place at Oxford, or join the fight against Hitler's Germany. In Jeffrey Archer's masterful hands, you will be taken on a journey that you won't want to end, even after you turn the last page of this unforgettable yarn, because you will be faced with a dilemma that neither you, nor Harry Clifton could ever have anticipated.
The writing is capable and pleasant. I would've given this book (although slow and somewhat meandering) 4.5 stars, save for one train wreck of a plot element which yanked me so far out of the story line I had to walk away for a few hours. Colour blindness is an X-linked allosomal trait. Boys get the affected X chromosome from their mothers, not their fathers. I can't believe the book got out there without many/any people commenting on that (beta readers, editors, etc).
I'm not sure if I'll be picking up the following books in the trilogy or not. I was also distressed by the blatant anachronism of reading the Miranda a couple of decades before it existed.
Readable, enjoyable, a bunch of seriously 'suspension of disbelief' destroying problems. Good beach read, for an undemanding audience.
