First of all, let me state clearly that two stars means I think this book is OK! Whether you should read it or not ought to depend upon your mood and what you are looking for. It is not poorly written and will satisfy those readers who love series, love adventure stories, love plot-oriented books and love solving a puzzle. What kind of a puzzle? You know in fact very early on who the central character's father is, but what keeps you reading is to discover how the author is going to weave together all the details to make an entertaining story that makes sense. Each of the central characters tells you what they know and what has happened to them personally. With each retelling of the story you get a few more details, but there is a lot of repetition. In this respect it works very well as an audiobook because the repetition means you are not going to miss important details. dislike them. Like I don't know how many times the readers were told that Harry Clifton is smart and poor , smart and poor , I mean we get it in first 5 times but if you keep mentioning it for 50 times , I don't know. ( Was he running out of content). And I personally feel sorry for all the side characters and I can't say more about them , they didn't had life except thinking about Harry Clifton . Most students could not understand how he was able to have houses and cars to his name yet he only worked part-time jobs as a fundraiser for the charity organization, Oxfam. This season saw him meet his future wife, Mary Weeden, who happened to be a chemistry student in the Oxford college of St Anne’s. They later on had two sons both of whom became politicians. After graduating from College, he continued his fundraising work this time for a medical charity known as The National Birthday Trust. Ten days later, I received an I’m sorry to have to inform you letter from Eton. I had only managed 32 per cent. Percy scored 56 per cent and was offered a place for the Michaelmas term, which delighted his father and was met with incredulity by the Frob. Archer's prose isn't all that stylish. There are some compelling moments,but at times the book is also a drag.There is plenty of filler material.It took me a good long while to read.

The first in the series, 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.The biggest reason I enjoyed this book is all of the family secrets. Oh, there are some doozies in here. I don't want to give anything away but there are a lot of secret connections between Harry and some of the other characters in the book and I loved seeing them unraveled throughout the book. Kudos Mr. Archer for this wonderful introduction, with a number of great cliffhangers and dramatic twists. Bring on the next volume, posthaste. I came here for a good mystery book and I got , predictable twists and dicey situations , obvious and annoying cliffhanger , *I yawned 1000 times* revelations , and the worst ending .

The rest of the Barrington family play a large role in the book, too. Elizabeth Barrington, Giles’ mother, is always sweet and encouraging. Giles’ grandfather, Walter, is also hugely supportive. Hugo, Giles’ father, is the antithesis of that, and leaves much to be desired. It is Giles’ middle sister, though, who has Harry’s heart. Emma Barrington is Harry’s one true love. But will their love last? Will there be more obstacles to overcome? “If you make a deal with a fool, don’t be surprised when they act foolishly.” Whenever I questioned my mother about his death, she didn’t say any more than that he’d served with the Royal Gloucestershire Regiment and had been killed fighting on the Western Front only days before the Armistice was signed. Grandma said my dad had been a brave man, and once when we were alone in the house she showed me his medals. My grandpa rarely offered an opinion on anything, but then he was deaf as a post so he might not have heard the question in the first place. His first novel was written when he was thirty four years of age. Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less was first published in the US and later in Britain by Deborah Owen, a literary agent. This book turned to be the silver lining in the cloud when at the brink of bankruptcy, Jeffrey Archer was able to make quite a fortune from sales. Between the early 80s and 90s this novel went on to be made into both TV and radio adaptations which were aired in BBC television and Radio 4 respectively. And then Harry spoke, a soft, gentle voice that made you want to listen. The birthday party had apparently been going swimmingly until my father burst into the room, and then he hardly spoke again. I’d never known my father to be so off-hand with anyone, and I couldn’t understand why he should behave in that way towards a complete stranger. But even more inexplicable was Papa’s reaction when he asked Harry when his birthday was. How could such an innocuous question bring on such an extreme reaction? A moment later my father got up and left the room, without even saying goodbye to Giles and his guests. I could see that Mama was embarrassed by his behaviour, although she poured another cup of tea and pretended not to notice.The epic tale of Harry Clifton’s life begins in 1920, with the chilling words, ‘I was told my father was killed in the war.’