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The Clifton Chronicles Series

This sweeping multi-generational saga chronicles the lives of one family across the twentieth century, spanning journeys from Europe to America. Immerse yourself in a narrative rich with love, betrayal, rivalry, and unexpected triumphs. Watch as characters navigate personal challenges and major historical events, shaping their destinies. The enduring power of family bonds, ambition, and the pursuit of one's legacy forms the core of this compelling story.

Be careful what you wish for
The Sins of the Father
Cometh the Hour
Only time will tell
This Was A Man
Mightier than the sword

Recommended Reading Order

  1. 1

    Only time will tell

    4.3(8690)Add rating

    On arrival in America, Harry Clifton is arrested for first degree murder, for killing Bill Bradshaw. He is tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death by the electric chair. Meanwhile Emma goes to London to give birth to Sebastian, her and Harry's child. On visiting Maisie to introduce her to her grandson, she becomes convinced that Harry is still alive. With the help of Sir Walter, she goes to America in search of Harry, where she must then fight to save his life. Meanwhile, when Sir Walter dies, Hugo takes over the Barrington shipping line, but manages to run the company into the ground, and when war is declared, Giles Barrington leaves Oxford to join the Gloucestershire Regiment, gaining respect and eventually glory in the military. And as the war progresses, Sebastian is brought up by his grandmother, Elizabeth Barrington. As a young man, he falls in love with the sister of a school friend, whose father is an Argentinean businessman who has made a fortune in arms dealing to both sides during the war. -- Vol. 2.

    Only time will tell
  2. 2

    The Sins of the Father

    4.1(43282)Add rating

    On the heels of the international bestseller Only Time Will Tell, Jeffrey Archer picks up the sweeping story of the Clifton Chronicles. Only days before Britain declares war on Germany, Harry Clifton, hoping to escape the consequences of long-buried family secrets, and forced to accept that his desire to marry Emma Barrington will never be fulfilled, has joined the Merchant Navy. But his ship is sunk in the Atlantic by a German U-boat, drowning almost the entire crew.  An American cruise liner, the SS Kansas Star, rescues a handful of sailors, among them Harry and the third officer, an American named Tom Bradshaw.  When Bradshaw dies in the night, Harry seizes on the chance to escape his tangled past and assumes his identity.But on landing in America, he quickly learns the mistake he has made, when he discovers what is awaiting Bradshaw in New York.  Without any way of proving his true identity, Harry Clifton is now chained to a past that could be far worse than the one he had hoped to escape.

    The Sins of the Father
  3. 3

    Best Kept Secret

    4.2(360)Add rating

    Harry Clifton, now a bestselling novelist, his wife Emma, their son Sebastian, and orphaned Jessica make a new life for themselves. But Emma's brother Giles' fiancée may be after his fortune and title. And Sebastian, though bright, has a hard time resisting temptation. It all comes to a head when a new villain is uncovered, a face from the past with grudges against both Harry and Giles.

    Best Kept Secret
  4. 4

    Be careful what you wish for

    • 400 pages
    • 14 hours of reading
    4.2(316)Add rating

    While Harry and Emma race to discover the fate of their son after a terrible car accident, Don Pedro Martinez plots to install a puppet chairman at the Barrington Shipping Company and Jessica's nuptials are sabotaged by a poisonous friend.

    Be careful what you wish for
  5. 5

    Mightier than the sword

    4.1(20287)Add rating

    A bomb detonates, leaving the fate of passengers on the MV Buckingham uncertain. Upon arriving in New York, Harry learns from his publisher, Harold Guinzberg, that he has been elected president of English PEN, allowing him to advocate for the release of fellow author Anatoly Babakov, imprisoned in a Russian Gulag for his revealing book about working for Josef Stalin. Harry's commitment to Babakov's cause puts his own life at risk. Meanwhile, Emma Clifton, now Chairman of Barrington Shipping, faces backlash from the IRA bombing of her ship, with some board members urging her resignation while others, including newly elected Sebastian Clifton, support her leadership. Giles Barrington, now a Minister of the Crown, encounters political turmoil following an unsuccessful diplomatic trip to East Germany, exacerbated by Major Alex Fisher's decision to challenge him in the upcoming general election. Sebastian proposes to his girlfriend Samantha, who initially accepts but later withdraws her commitment upon discovering his secretive actions. The narrative culminates in two court trials: a high-profile libel case in London involving Emma and Lady Virginia Fenwick, and a show trial in Russia where Harry is arrested as a spy. Thus unfolds the fifth installment of the Clifton Chronicles.

    Mightier than the sword
  6. 6

    Cometh the Hour

    • 528 pages
    • 19 hours of reading
    4.0(854)Add rating

    Cometh the Hour is the sixth and penultimate book in the spellbinding, number one bestselling Clifton Chronicles, from master storyteller Jeffrey Archer.

    Cometh the Hour
  7. 7

    This Was A Man

    4.5(8273)Add rating

    This Was a Man opens with a shot being fired, but who pulled the trigger, and who lives and who dies? In Whitehall, Giles Barrington discovers the truth about his wife Karin from the Cabinet Secretary. Is she a spy or a pawn in a larger game? Harry Clifton sets out to write his magnum opus, while his wife Emma completes her ten years as Chairman of the Bristol Royal Infirmary, and receives an unexpected call from Margaret Thatcher offering her a job. Sebastian Clifton becomes chairman of Farthings Kaufman bank, but only after Hakim Bishara has to resign for personal reasons. Sebastian and Samantha’s talented daughter, Jessica, is expelled from the Slade School of Fine Art, but her aunt Grace comes to her rescue. Meanwhile, Lady Virginia is about to flee the country to avoid her creditors when the Duchess of Hertford dies, and she sees another opportunity to clear her debts and finally trump the Cliftons and Barringtons. In a devastating twist, tragedy engulfs the Clifton family when one of them receives a shocking diagnosis that will throw all their lives into turmoil. This Was a Man is the captivating final installment of the Clifton Chronicles, a series of seven novels that has topped the bestseller lists around the world, and enhanced Jeffrey Archer’s reputation as a master storyteller.

    This Was A Man