Jeffrey Archer - Clifton Chronicles

"From the popular author of Kane and Abel and A Prisoner of Birth comes 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....

Embarking on a shared family life, Harry, Emma, Sebastian, and Jessica find their happiness challenged by Emma's brother's engagement to a fortune-seeker, Sebastian's hedonist pursuits, and a grudge-bearing enemy from the past who would destroy their careers.

In the aftermath of an IRA bombing, Harry Clifton uses his new literary station to raise awareness for his POW friend while Giles Barrington works to secure a political career and Sebastian's past threatens his engagement. "A bomb goes off, but how many passengers on the MV Buckingham have lost their lives? When Harry arrives in New York, his publisher Harold Guinzberg tells him he has been elected as the next president of English PEN, which will...

"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...