arts & entertainment
No secret to
his success
Work ethic and love
of story are key to
Archer’s accomplishments
By Rachel Stafler
THERE AREN’T MANY authors who can
boast sales of 250 million copies in 97 countries
and 37 languages, but Jeffrey Archer is one of
them. The author of Kane and Abel has just
come out with his 32nd book, Best Kept Secret.
It’s the third book in the five-volume Clifton
Chronicles series, following the life and family
of Harry Clifton.
The much-awaited book, already on best-seller lists from pre-release sales, opens in
post–World War II Britain as main characters
Harry Clifton and Emma Barrington begin
building a life together as husband and wife.
(The series begins in 1920—with Only Time
Will Tell [MacMillan, 2011]—and will end
100 years later, in 2020.)
“When I write I never know what’s going
to happen in the end,” says Archer, 72, from
his home in London. “I can say that I know
generally what will happen 10 pages ahead
and pretty well what I will write for the next
five, and then I pray. I haven’t gotten a clue
myself what will happen in the next book.”
Archer became a writer almost by acci-
dent. He started his career as a politician,
serving as a member of Parliament when he
was just 29. It wasn’t until 1976, when he was
in his 30s, that he wrote his first novel, Not a
Penny More, Not a Penny Less, after a bad
investment forced him to resign, deeply in
debt, from the House of Commons. Unable to
get a job anywhere else, and needing to repay
his creditors, Archer decided his only option
was to write a book inspired by his experi-
The Costco Connection
Best Kept Secret (Item #761391) is available
in most Costco warehouses.
ences, and it was more successful than he ever
imagined. By the time his third novel, Kane
and Abel, was published in 1979, his name
had become recognized around the world.
Despite his success as a writer, Archer
stayed involved in the UK’s Conservative
Party until 1999, when he was charged with
perjury and conspiracy to pervert the course
of justice, dating back to a libel case he
brought against a newspaper. He went on to
serve two years in prison. Archer’s time
“I haven’t gotten a
clue myself what
will happen in the
next book.”
—Jeffrey Archer
behind bars inspired him to write A Prison
Diary, a three-volume memoir based on his
experiences behind bars.
His body of work also includes short-
story collections, plays and fiction writing. “I
am a storyteller at heart,” says Archer, who
divides his time between London, Cambridge
and Majorca. “[Even] today, when a new
book comes out I am always thrilled and have
the natural fear that no one will read it.”
Throughout Archer’s storied career, his
tough work ethic has remained constant.
When he’s working on a book, he writes eight
hours a day, often for 50 days at a time, draft-
ing each page by hand. Each book goes
through about 17
versions, with his
editors seeing only
the last three or so.
Rachel Stafler is a freelance lifestyle writer
based in London.
