--- product_id: 109656719 title: "Only Time Will Tell (Clifton Chronicles Book 1)" price: "£2.26" currency: GBP in_stock: false reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/109656719-only-time-will-tell-clifton-chronicles-book-1 store_origin: GB region: United Kingdom --- # Only Time Will Tell (Clifton Chronicles Book 1) **Price:** £2.26 **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Only Time Will Tell (Clifton Chronicles Book 1) - **How much does it cost?** £2.26 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.uk](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/109656719-only-time-will-tell-clifton-chronicles-book-1) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description From the internationally bestselling author Jeffrey Archer comes Only Time Will Tell , the first in the ambitious Clifton Chronicles series that tells the story of one family across generations, across oceans, from heartbreak to triumph. 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 engrossing 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. Review: Well-told novel of a rich and a poor family - This is an enjoyable novel, part of three and soon to be five of the Clifton Chronicles. Harry Clifton may be the illegitimate son of Lord Hugo Barrington, and his extraordinary singing voice as a treble (boy soprano) lands him in a posh school and out of his dire poverty as the (putative) son of a missing or murdered man and his mother, Maisie, who works as a waitress. The entanglement of the Barringtons, who are aristocracy and the Cliftons, who live near the docks of Bristol is rather like a mix of Downton Abbey and Harry Potter. There is a lot of the Harry Potter in Harry Clifton. He has talent. He is good, honest and true. He is picked on for his family background. He goes to a special school. While the characters can be either saintly or devilish and nothing in between, the characters are drawn well and you fall into this story with the ease of jumping into a feather bed. You don't want to get out and the surprise at the end sets up the next volume in the serial--as is the way of novels these days. Review: Only Time Will Tell by Jeffrey Archer - Only Time Will Tell by. Jeffrey Archer Rating: **** (4 stars) Book Size: 400 pages Genre: Historical Fiction When I picked up this book I had no idea what to expect. I originally obtained the book up from free from desertcart and it sat on my to be read shelf for a while. I decided to read it for a challenge to read something with green lettering on the cover. Historical fiction is not really my thing, so it was a pleasant surprise that I enjoyed the greater majority of the book. The novel takes place in Bristol London in-between the end of the first world war and the start of the second. It chronicles the life of Harry Clifton from his birth to his late teenage years. The unique aspect of the book is how Jeffry Archer stitches the plot together. He tells it in sections from several different characters. Each section reviews the previous section from a different point of view and then continues the story. The sections always end on a sort of a cliff hanger. The end of the book is perhaps the biggest cliff hanger of them all - since it is, of course, a series. In a way I enjoyed the unique style of writing. It was written so it was easy to follow, but was intriguing all the same. Only certain people had pieces of the story line, and those pieces were not introduced until it was the character's turn to narrate. The downside was that each section was more showing what was already known, it was literally a condensed summary, rather than an intricate weaving of the plot that may have happened if the chapters alternated points of views. The end of the novel also seemed to loose the in depth writing that captivated throughout most of the novel and left with more of a rushed summary. While I am interested in Harry's tale it is not enough of an interest to make an effort to actually continue. As published on The Book Recluse Review ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #94,681 in Kindle Store ( See Top 100 in Kindle Store ) #23 in Contemporary British Fiction #292 in Historical British Fiction #356 in 20th Century Historical Fiction (Books) | ## Images ![Only Time Will Tell (Clifton Chronicles Book 1) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51mTrzwezVL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Well-told novel of a rich and a poor family *by J***. on May 17, 2014* This is an enjoyable novel, part of three and soon to be five of the Clifton Chronicles. Harry Clifton may be the illegitimate son of Lord Hugo Barrington, and his extraordinary singing voice as a treble (boy soprano) lands him in a posh school and out of his dire poverty as the (putative) son of a missing or murdered man and his mother, Maisie, who works as a waitress. The entanglement of the Barringtons, who are aristocracy and the Cliftons, who live near the docks of Bristol is rather like a mix of Downton Abbey and Harry Potter. There is a lot of the Harry Potter in Harry Clifton. He has talent. He is good, honest and true. He is picked on for his family background. He goes to a special school. While the characters can be either saintly or devilish and nothing in between, the characters are drawn well and you fall into this story with the ease of jumping into a feather bed. You don't want to get out and the surprise at the end sets up the next volume in the serial--as is the way of novels these days. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Only Time Will Tell by Jeffrey Archer *by M***S on December 15, 2016* Only Time Will Tell by. Jeffrey Archer Rating: **** (4 stars) Book Size: 400 pages Genre: Historical Fiction When I picked up this book I had no idea what to expect. I originally obtained the book up from free from Amazon and it sat on my to be read shelf for a while. I decided to read it for a challenge to read something with green lettering on the cover. Historical fiction is not really my thing, so it was a pleasant surprise that I enjoyed the greater majority of the book. The novel takes place in Bristol London in-between the end of the first world war and the start of the second. It chronicles the life of Harry Clifton from his birth to his late teenage years. The unique aspect of the book is how Jeffry Archer stitches the plot together. He tells it in sections from several different characters. Each section reviews the previous section from a different point of view and then continues the story. The sections always end on a sort of a cliff hanger. The end of the book is perhaps the biggest cliff hanger of them all - since it is, of course, a series. In a way I enjoyed the unique style of writing. It was written so it was easy to follow, but was intriguing all the same. Only certain people had pieces of the story line, and those pieces were not introduced until it was the character's turn to narrate. The downside was that each section was more showing what was already known, it was literally a condensed summary, rather than an intricate weaving of the plot that may have happened if the chapters alternated points of views. The end of the novel also seemed to loose the in depth writing that captivated throughout most of the novel and left with more of a rushed summary. While I am interested in Harry's tale it is not enough of an interest to make an effort to actually continue. As published on The Book Recluse Review ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent read *by K***R on January 11, 2026* Very impressive story line with characters you hope will succeed in toppling the many challenges they encounter. I was rooting for Harry every page of the way! --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/109656719-only-time-will-tell-clifton-chronicles-book-1](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/109656719-only-time-will-tell-clifton-chronicles-book-1) --- *Product available on Desertcart United Kingdom* *Store origin: GB* *Last updated: 2026-06-07*