The letter came by courier last week.I knew when I touched the envelope that it was fine stationery. I knew from the paper, the porous surface of pure cotton rag; the watermark that shone though as I held it to the light. The letter is in my bag in the overhead compartment, but I imagine the cream fibers, the feel of the engraved letterhead.
Description:
Ashley Walsingham was a mountain climber killed in an attempt to scale Mt. Everest in 1924. Before he departed for the climb he re-wrote his will to leave his fortune to Imogen Soames-Andersson, a woman he had met for one brief week but had not seen for seven years. But after his death she cannot be found to give her with the vast bequeath.
Now, after 80 years, the estate is still unclaimed and the trust is to be distributed to other charities. Tristan Campbell receives a letter from the Walsingham Trust lawyers. They have a vague idea that Tristan might be the last remaining heir to the estate in trust from 1924. Tristan has only a few weeks to prove his direct link to Walsingham to claim the inheritance. Thus begins to search into the lives of Ashley and Imogen, their correspondence, Walsingham's life as a World War I combatant and mountain climber, and Imogen's life after his death.
Justin Go proves himself an able story-teller and romanticist in his debut novel The Steady Running of the Hour. This book has something for everyone: a passionate romance between two young lovers; a mystery that follows tenuous links to murky speculations; an epistolary correspondence between star-crossed lovers; realistic descriptions of the soldiers and conditions of World War I; and bone-chilling details about the assent on Mt. Everest.
It is a twisting tale combining Tristan's search for any information about these two lovers. Starting with only a few of their letters, he travels to their English homes, the battlefields of France, and an isolated village in Iceland, looking for clues that might answer critical questions: Could they somehow be his great-great grandparents? How did they meet? What happened when Ashley went away to war? What didn't Imogen ever claim the estate? Is their romance truly love or just the longing of youth?
Chapters alternate between Tristan's present day search and the actions of Ashley and Imogen 80 years earlier. Readers are privy to both the desperate research and travels of Tristan as well as the star-crossed relationship of Ashley and Imogen, their conversations, correspondence, and lives together and apart. All actions, conversations, and situations are carefully, wonderfully detailed until you understand and care deeply about each of these characters. And wonder what will be the conclusions to each of their lives.
Along the way, Tristan gradually becomes less interested in his stake in the inheritance and is more driven to understand these two lovers. And as he searches, his life and decisions begin to take on a similarity to those of Ashley in pursuit of goals and relationships with women.
Will Tristan find the answers in the time remaining? Will the information confirm his lineage to Ashley and Imogen and the fortune that awaits him as the heir? The book keeps you guessing until the final pages, and even then it produces several unexpected surprises. One has to love a story that is unpredictable to the very end, so completely engrossing you in the story and characters that you arrive breathless at the end, take a minute to digest the outcome, then want to start reading it all over again.
A wonderfully-written, beautiful love story and challenging mystery full of interesting characters, story twists, and, of course, adventure and passion. Highly recommended.
Now, after 80 years, the estate is still unclaimed and the trust is to be distributed to other charities. Tristan Campbell receives a letter from the Walsingham Trust lawyers. They have a vague idea that Tristan might be the last remaining heir to the estate in trust from 1924. Tristan has only a few weeks to prove his direct link to Walsingham to claim the inheritance. Thus begins to search into the lives of Ashley and Imogen, their correspondence, Walsingham's life as a World War I combatant and mountain climber, and Imogen's life after his death.
Justin Go proves himself an able story-teller and romanticist in his debut novel The Steady Running of the Hour. This book has something for everyone: a passionate romance between two young lovers; a mystery that follows tenuous links to murky speculations; an epistolary correspondence between star-crossed lovers; realistic descriptions of the soldiers and conditions of World War I; and bone-chilling details about the assent on Mt. Everest.
It is a twisting tale combining Tristan's search for any information about these two lovers. Starting with only a few of their letters, he travels to their English homes, the battlefields of France, and an isolated village in Iceland, looking for clues that might answer critical questions: Could they somehow be his great-great grandparents? How did they meet? What happened when Ashley went away to war? What didn't Imogen ever claim the estate? Is their romance truly love or just the longing of youth?
Even love can sometimes be a mistake, and perhaps this vanished love of Ashley and Imogen's had been a wasted one ... Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between love and longing, but they are not at all the same thing, and while one is worth very much, the other is always wasted.
Chapters alternate between Tristan's present day search and the actions of Ashley and Imogen 80 years earlier. Readers are privy to both the desperate research and travels of Tristan as well as the star-crossed relationship of Ashley and Imogen, their conversations, correspondence, and lives together and apart. All actions, conversations, and situations are carefully, wonderfully detailed until you understand and care deeply about each of these characters. And wonder what will be the conclusions to each of their lives.
Along the way, Tristan gradually becomes less interested in his stake in the inheritance and is more driven to understand these two lovers. And as he searches, his life and decisions begin to take on a similarity to those of Ashley in pursuit of goals and relationships with women.
I don't feel sorry for them. However badly things went for Ashley, I bet you anything he wouldn't have traded his life for mine. They knew what they cared about, both of them. Even if they lost it, at least they knew.
Will Tristan find the answers in the time remaining? Will the information confirm his lineage to Ashley and Imogen and the fortune that awaits him as the heir? The book keeps you guessing until the final pages, and even then it produces several unexpected surprises. One has to love a story that is unpredictable to the very end, so completely engrossing you in the story and characters that you arrive breathless at the end, take a minute to digest the outcome, then want to start reading it all over again.
A wonderfully-written, beautiful love story and challenging mystery full of interesting characters, story twists, and, of course, adventure and passion. Highly recommended.
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Brockmole, Jessica. Letters from Skye: A Novel
Correspondence between a young college man who enters World War I and a quiet poet living on the Isle of Skye. Beautifully written, passionate, and tragic at once. (previously reviewed here)
Shreve, Anita. Stella Bain
A woman awakes in a World War I hospital in France, with no memory of her name, her past, or what she is doing in the battlefield. As she searches for her identity, she meets one man who might change her life. (previously reviewed here)
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