Only Time Will Tell (Clifton Chronicles 1) [Formato Kindle]

I love to read a good family saga. I used to eagerly read Susan Howatch before moving on to Edward Rutherford and the "Forsyte Saga". I love watching a family evolve through the years. This book has the earmarks of a great series.
The story revolves around the Cliftons, a lower class family of dock workers who have a son of exceptional talents, and the Barringtons, a wealthy family whose children seem remarkably decent and grounded. Harry Clifton, the son, has an outstanding voice that offers him a way to better himself through a scholarship to a fine school. Even with his talent, it takes a village to give him the tools to win the scholarship. The book tells the story from various character viewpoints so you can see the help given to young Clifton.
I was so surprised to read the reviews talking about it being the first book in a series like it was a big deal. There are so many series out there that it shouldn't come as such a shock. Lee Child has his Reacher, Bernard Cornwell has his Uhtred and Diana Gabaldon has Jamie and Claire. If you don't like waiting for the next book then wait until the entire series is out. Otherwise just relax and enjoy yourself.
Jeffrey Archer is a skilled story teller. The story moves right along and it is hard to put down. He's like John Grisham- not the most skilled writer but a great story teller. I read this at a fast rate and enoyed every moment of it. I found it to be a fun read.

I picked this book up on a recent trip, during a connection through London, where it's already published. (I don't really have the Kindle edition, I have a softcover, but Amazon doesn't allow reviews for any edition except Kindle as I write this.)

I've read so much fiction in my life that only pretty good writing will hold my interest. This is high quality writing with quite good characterization.

The viewpoint of the story switches among the main characters. Each section for a character starts off with a first-person narrative, and then switches to a traditional third-person narrative for that character.

This results in overlap. It's common to see the same timeline covered from multiple viewpoints. That's tricky writing to pull off, but Archer is a pro, so he does it pretty well.

The era is early twentieth century, between the World Wars and leading up to World War II. It's clear that WWII will play a big part in the entire story, and in fact it begins just as this book ends.

The protagonist is from a lower class family, and the early part of the book covers his attempts to rise via his education.

The plot is fairly predictable. There are a few twists that I didn't see, but the broad outline became clear early on. I was still engaged enough with the characters to want to see the story through.

And that leads to the biggest criticism: as other reviewers have noted, this is just the beginning of a series. The end of the book leaves all of the major plot elements unresolved. So if you like your fiction to contain a story wrapped up neatly in a bow at the end, you probably ought to avoid this one until the story is all published. However, if you can let the unresolved elements sit for a while until the rest is published, then this would be a fine summer reading choice.

This book by bestselling author Jeffrey Archer is excellent. The story grips readers who become emotionally involved with its characters. This is volume one of The Clifton Chronicles. When readers finish it, they will look forward with eagerness to see what happens to Harry Clifton.

The opening chapters of the adventure, in the 1920s and 1930s, tells the same events from the perspectives of several different people, each adding or changing what had been told before, and thereby deepening the understanding of the events and the people involved. This style had been used effectively before by William Faulkner in The Sound and the Fury - who people call "the greatest author the US South produced" - and by the editors of the four New Testament Gospels, where each Gospel writer revisits what the others told, with changes, deepening the readers' interest and understanding.

The story hangs on the mystery of Harry Clifton's parentage: who was his father? This mystery, in turn, creates others. What difference does it make who Harry's father is? What happened to Harry's mother's husband? Why do people keep her husband's whereabouts secret? If the mystery of Harry's parentage is not resolved, will it destroy his life?

We read about the extraordinary sacrifices of Harry's mother. She is poor. She is determined that Harry will get schooling, even though she lacks money to pay for the schooling, and even though someone is repeatedly sabotaging her efforts. We read about the very rich Barrington family, the grandfather who is a paragon of goodness, his son Hugo who is clearly evil, and his grandchildren Giles and Emma, and the strong positive emotional feelings that the two have toward Harry. We read also of the people who help Harry, people who travel distances to see his accomplishments even after they retire. These men and women include the poor disheveled bum Old Jack Tarr, a recluse, an eccentric, who everyone knows is crazy, who Harry comes to love, who despite having virtually no money makes sure that Harry has what he needs. And there is the famed Captain Tarrant, winner of the prestigious Victorian Cross, the man who saved many of his comrade's lives during the First World War by killing close to a dozen enemy soldiers, the man whom his comrades respect, a man readers will admire. We see how the onset of the Second World War affects these people.

This, in short, is a splendid well-told tale of generally very likable people who provoke our emotions, people who we like and want to know about.