Book Summary: The Sins of the Father
New York, 1939. Tom Bradshaw is arrested for first-degree murder. He stands accused of killing his brother. When Sefton Jelks, a top Manhattan lawyer, offers his services for nothing, penniless Tom has little choice but to accept his assurance of a lighter sentence. After Tom is tried, found guilty and sentenced, Jelks disappears, and the only way for him to prove his innocence would be to reveal his true identity—something that he has sworn never to do in order to protect the woman he loves.
Meanwhile, the young woman in question travels to New York, leaving their son behind in England, having decided she’ll do whatever it takes to find the man she was to marry – unwilling to believe that he died at sea. The only proof she has is a letter. A letter that has remained unopened on a mantelpiece in Bristol for over a year.
Jeffrey Archer continues the saga of The Clifton Chronicles with this epic second novel in the series, The Sins of the Father. Family loyalties are stretched to their limits as secrets unravel, and the story moves from the backstreets of Bristol to the boardrooms of Manhattan.
Book Review: The Sins of the Father
The Sins of the Father is the second of the Clifton Chronicles series. We catch up with Harry Clifton as he disembarks the Kansas Star in America, only to be promptly arrested for murder. He had assumed the identity of Tom Bradshaw, a Navy officer who perished in the U-Boat attack. And now he’s in a mess. Meanwhile Emma Barrington, Harry’s love and mother to his son, has embarked on a quest to find out what happened to Harry. Her quest leads her to the States, where she finds she is truly out of her element as she wends her way through the brash new world that is New York City.
Confused? Well, you need to read the first book in the series, Only Time Will Tell. This is not a stand alone book. You need the background or you will be lost through most of the book.
“In the end, it all comes down to how you cope with the unforeseen.”
Called the Clifton Chronicles, this is the story of the Clifton and Barrington families and there are more plot twists and excitement than one person can describe. A fast reading book, this book is divided up into sections based on the Characters in the book and follows them through their respective sections. Chapters are 5-10 pages in length and the book moves quickly (sometimes a bit too quickly) through the World War 2 years and all the intrigue that involves the family.
“No escape plan can ever be foolproof, In the end, it all comes down to how you cope with the unforeseen.”
You really need to begin this series with the first book because, unlike some other authors, Archer moves quickly into action mode and does not recap what happened as thoroughly, as other writers, what happened in the prior book. I had read Book-1 about a year ago and found myself floundering a bit at the beginning of this book (the first 20 pages) until I just started reading and not worrying what had happened previously. I now have all the other books in this series. If you have not read Jeffrey Archer, he is quite a colorful character in his own right and so it should come as not surprise that his books are great and fun reads.
