The Steady Running of the Hour

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.

About the Author :
Justin Go was born in Los Angeles. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley, and University College London. The Steady Running of the Hour is his first novel and is being published in twenty languages.

Review :
A wonderful time-slip story, beautifully written and with a superb sense of place. Go captures the spirit of early twentieth century England perfectly, both in the past and the present, in a novel that is exciting, emotionally engaging and ambitious. I loved it! Justin Go has written an astonishingly vast, meticulously plotted, and beautifully told novel. In elegant, haunting prose he tells a wartime story that is at once violent and lovely, hopeful and despairing. I won't soon forget Go's passionate, star-crossed lovers and their deeply moving story, set against the riveting, utterly realistic backdrop of the Great War. Justin Go’s impressive and ambitious debut is meticulously plotted and researched, and combines the narrative drive of Dan Brown with the literary sensibility of Alan Hollinghurst’s The Stranger’s Child. Packed with wonderful, deep and fascinating characters, Justin Go's novel is a whirlwind of emotion and history, poignant and breathtaking in its scope and execution … the story is terrific, with brilliant, realistic dialogue and fantastic characters. Destined to join the long list of wartime romances that have been turned into Hollywood movies (think The English Patient and Atonement), US author Justin Go’s first novel is what they might’ve called in the Fifties a “rip-roaring adventure”… An engaging detective story…The Steady Running Of The Hour will leave you feeling emotionally drained and historically enlightened. A dual time frame novel… that's a genre buster. Two love stories, the trauma of World War I, the exhilaration of mountain climbing and a race-against-time paper chase all packed in one volume. Marvellous novel … beautiful prose and cleverly structured plot. Think John Buchnan, and read on.