The Steady Running of the Hour

February 24, 2014
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. Agent: Dorian Karchmar, WME Entertainment.

January 1, 2014

The year is 2004, and 23-year-old Tristan Campbell stands to inherit a multimillion-dollar fortune if he can discreetly prove in seven weeks' time his grandmother's maternal relationship to his alleged greatgrandmother, the sister of his known great-grandmother, Eleanor Soames-Andersson, an artist. With less than $2,000 to his name, Tristan begins his pursuit to unlock the mysteries behind his genealogy in San Francisco, then moves on to London and later to France, Germany, and Iceland. Captivatingly told, the stories of past and present alternate with each chapter, as Tristan discovers the brief but intense love affair between Ashley Walsingham and Imogen Soames-Andersson, begun in 1916. VERDICT Gifted storyteller Go captures a period feel in the backstory through his narratives and uses dialog to reveal his characters' place among the affluent, while Tristan's contemporary story line profiles a young man making do with what he has and driven to unravel the truth behind his family's past. This story is a page-turner and an impressive first work, sure to be appreciated by fans of historical and travel fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 11/22/13.]--Shirley Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA

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