The Steady Running Of The Hour-Justin Go

The Steady Running Of The Hour Justin Go Simon & Schuster, Apr 15 2014, $26.00 ISBN 9781476704586 In 2004, JF Prichard of London-based Twyning & Hooper, Solicitors contacts American Tristan Campbell. He explains to the recent college graduate that he may be heir to a trust fund established in 1924 by mountain climber Ashley Walshingham, but never claimed by his beneficiary at that time Imogen Soames-Andersson. Over the next eight decades the firm searched for the rightful heir, but until recently found no clues. Even now the solicitors remain unsure if Tristan is the one though they have some evidence pointing in his direction. Tristan arrives in Europe where he seeks proof that he is Ashley’s descendent. In 1917, Ashley and Imogen share a tryst fueled by love before he goes off to the continent to fight in the trench war. Though fortunate to survive, Ashley is not the same. By 1924, the daredevil mountaineer decides to climb Mount Everest. He dies in the attempt leaving behind his vast fortune to his beloved Imogen though he never saw her after he left for the war. Now with two months to go before the trust fund is turned over to charity on the eightieth anniversary of Ashley’s death, Tristan is spellbound by the man’s adventures. This terrific character-driven tale deftly rotates the two subplots though the WWI and post war eras being the stronger with a timely reminder that combat veterans’ damaged souls may lead to many unable to return to the civilian life even to waiting love; Ashley suffered from a harrowing stint in the trenches of France that changed him. Although Tristan’s romance feels unnecessary and forced, readers will appreciate this entertaining drama especially Ashley’s awesome adventures. Harriet Klausner