

The first half of the book is pretty much “ Tom Brown’s Schooldays,” as written by Ernest Hemingway on an off day. We then take up Harry’s life from the age of 6, when he escapes the working-class misery of his family life by getting a scholarship to boarding school. She marries Arthur Clifton shortly thereafter, hopes for the best, and Harry shows up eight months later. Harry’s life might or might not have begun when his mother had a lapse of judgment while on a works outing to Weston-super-Mare.

You keep watching, but you don’t know why. Reading this book is like watching TV when you’ve lost the remote. It covers the life and times of Harry Clifton, an English boy who first appears as a zygote and then goes on to (slightly) more interesting things. “Only Time Will Tell” is the opening volume in a new series from best-selling author Jeffrey Archer.
