The Steady Running of the Hour
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
In this mesmerizing debut, a young American discovers he may be heir to the unclaimed estate of an English World War I officer, which launches him on a quest across Europe to uncover the elusive truth.
Just after graduating college, Tristan Campbell receives a letter delivered by special courier to his apartment in San Francisco. It contains the phone number of a Mr. J.F. Prichard of Twyning & Hooper, Solicitors, in London — and news that could change Tristan’s life forever.
In 1924, Prichard explains, an English alpinist named Ashley Walsingham died attempting to summit Mt. Everest, leaving his fortune to his former lover, Imogen Soames-Andersson. But the estate was never claimed. Information has recently surfaced suggesting Tristan may be the rightful heir, but unless he can find documented evidence, the fortune will be divided among charitable beneficiaries in less than two months.
In a breathless race from London archives to Somme battlefields to the Eastfjords of Iceland, Tristan pieces together the story of a forbidden affair set against the tumult of the First World War and the pioneer British expeditions to Mt. Everest. Following his instincts through a maze of frenzied research, Tristan soon becomes obsessed with the tragic lovers, and he crosses paths with a mysterious French girl named Mireille who suggests there is more to his quest than he realizes. Tristan must prove that he is related to Imogen to inherit Ashley’s fortune — but the more he learns about the couple, the stranger his journey becomes.
The Steady Running of the Hour announces the arrival of a stunningly talented author. Part love story, part historical tour de force, Justin Go’s novel is utterly compelling, unpredictable, and heartrending.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Go's debut is ambitious in many ways: it evokes a time of privileged daring in which British climbers, defying post-WWI disillusionment, climb Mt. Everest with foie gras at the ready; it depicts a love that transcends time and disdains convention; and it fluidly moves between past and present. The contemporary story concerns Tristan Campbell, an aimless 20-something who stands to inherit a vast fortune if he can track down documents that prove he's descended from Ashley Walshingham, a mountaineer, and Ashley's lover, Imogen Soames-Andersson. Go amps up the pressure on Tristan by giving him only two months before the will's provisions expire. Tristan is a dogged researcher who's willing to trust his luck, digging through libraries and archives across Europe and uncovering letters drenched in love and sorrow, but he doesn't initially find the evidence he needs to show that he is Ashley and Imogen's heir. He falls in love with a Frenchwoman, but their connection lacks spark. Meanwhile, Tristan delves further into Ashley and Imogen's love and its destruction by the forces of war and convention. Their story, as told in flashback, feels heartfelt but overwrought, and the trench warfare and climbing scenes, while competently executed, mine an oft-depicted period without adding much that's new.
