The latest short-story collection from Britain's bestselling writer, 'the greatest storyteller of our age'. The latest collection from the master storyteller. The fourteen — all new — stories show Jeffrey Archer's great skills with a wide variety of character, of subject and of setting, but all with that trademark twist in the tail. Every reader will have their own favourites: the choices run from love at first sight across the railway tracks to the cleverest of confidence tricks, from the quirks of the legal profession to the creative financial talents of a member of Her Majesty's diplomatic service. One of the most intriguing describes a woman who only appears to her lover every six years. And one of the most powerful is the story of a wealthy man who declares himself bankrupt in order to discover which of his family and friends will support him. The last story, 'The Grass is Always Greener', is possibly the best piece Archer has written. To Cut a Long Story Short is Jeffrey Archer's fourth story collection, and shows him at the top of his form.

It is Hartford, Connecticut, in the late 1940's, and a set of twins is separated at birth by a desperate nurse. Nat Cartwright goes home with his parents, a schoolteacher and an insurance salesman. But his twin brother is to begin his days as Fletcher Andrew Davenport, son of a wealthy CEO and his society wife. During the years that follow, the two brothers grow up unaware of each other's existence. Nat leaves college at the University of Connecticut to serve in Vietnam. Returning a war hero, he finishes school and goes on to become a successful bank executive. Fletcher, meanwhile, has graduated from Yale University and distinguishes himself as a criminal defence lawyer before he is elected a senator. As their lives unfold, both men are confronted with tragedy and betrayal, loss and hardship, all the time overcoming life's obstacles to become the men they are destined to be. In the tradition of Jeffrey Archer's most popular books, "Sons of Fortune" is as much a chronicle of a nation in transition as it is the story of the making of these two men - and how, eventually, they come to find each other...

2 novels in 1 book

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Archer has mesmerized thousands of readers over the years with his riveting novels and unforgettable characters. Now he returns with another remarkable novel that proves he is still one of the most gifted writers of all time...

In hushed maternity ward, an infant dies, while twin brothers thrive. By morning, one mother is told that her only child is doing fine. Another is told that she has tragically lost one of her sons...

Twins seperated at birth, Nathaniel Cartwright and Fletcher Davenport have been raised in different worlds, and have both thrived among the best and brightest of their generation. In an era of violent change, freee love, and blind ambition, Nat goes off to war, while Fletcher enters political combat. With each choice they make—in love and career, through tragedy and triumph—their lives mirror one another...until a high-profile murder case brings them together. Until a high-stakes political battle turns them into rivals. Until a decades-old secret is exposed...and two powerful men must confront their bonds of fate and fortune.

Bestselling author Jeffrey Archer returns with a powerful tale of twins separated by fate and reunited by desitiny. It is Hartford, Connecticut, in the late 1940's, and a set of twins is separated at birth by a desperate nurse. Nat Cartwright goes home with his parents, a schoolteacher and an insurance salesman. But his twin brother is to begin his days as Fletcher Andrew Davenport, son of a wealthy CEO and his society wife. During the years that follow, the two brothers grow up unaware of each other's existence. Nat leaves college at the University of Connecticut to serve in Vietnam. Returning a war hero, he finishes school and goes on to become a successful bank executive. Fletcher, meanwhile, has graduated from Yale University and distinguishes himself as a criminal defense lawyer before he is elected a senator. As their lives unfold, both men are confronted with tragedy and betrayal, loss and hardship, all the time overcoming life's obstacles to become the men they are destined to be. In the tradition of Jeffrey Archer's most popular books, SONS OF FORTUNE is as much a chronicle of a nation in transition as it is the story of the making of these two men - and how, eventually, they come to find each other...

International bestselling author Jeffrey Archer has enthralled readers with his riveting suspense, surprise denouements, and unforgettable storylines. Now Archer's three acclaimed collections of short fiction are brought together in one irresistible volume...

THE COLLECTED SHORT STORIES

A Quiver Full of Arrows takes readers on a journey of encounters that befall an assortment of kindly strangers, wary old friends, and long-lost loves.

Sly reflections on human nature are at the center of A Twist in the Tale in which blindly adventurous game-players compete for stakes higher than they dreamed.

Expect the unexpected and you'll still be surprised in Twelve Red Herrings, a dozen tales of betrayal, love, murder and revenge capped with a startling twist.

Thirty-six stories in all, each poised to astonish and inspire, revealing "master entertainer" (Time) Jeffrey Archer at his artfully entertaining best.

International bestselling author Jeffrey Archer has enthralled readers with his riveting suspense, surprise denouements, and unforgettable storylines. Now Archer's three acclaimed collections of short fiction are brought together in one irresistible volume...

THE COLLECTED SHORT STORIES

A Quiver Full of Arrows takes readers on a journey of encounters that befall an assortment of kindly strangers, wary old friends, and long-lost loves.

Sly reflections on human nature are at the center of A Twist in the Tale in which blindly adventurous game-players compete for stakes higher than they dreamed.

Expect the unexpected and you'll still be surprised in Twelve Red Herrings, a dozen tales of betrayal, love, murder and revenge capped with a startling twist.

Thirty-six stories in all, each poised to astonish and inspire, revealing "master entertainer" (Time) Jeffrey Archer at his artfully entertaining best.

International bestselling author Jeffrey Archer has enthralled readers with his riveting suspense, surprise denouements, and unforgettable storylines. Now Archer's three acclaimed collections of short fiction are brought together in one irresistible volume...

THE COLLECTED SHORT STORIES

A Quiver Full of Arrows takes readers on a journey of encounters that befall an assortment of kindly strangers, wary old friends, and long-lost loves.

Sly reflections on human nature are at the center of A Twist in the Tale in which blindly adventurous game-players compete for stakes higher than they dreamed.

Expect the unexpected and you'll still be surprised in Twelve Red Herrings, a dozen tales of betrayal, love, murder and revenge capped with a startling twist.

Thirty-six stories in all, each poised to astonish and inspire, revealing "master entertainer" (Time) Jeffrey Archer at his artfully entertaining best.

Day 115 Saturday 10th November 2001 6.38am It's all an act. I am hopelessly unhappy, dejected and broken. I smile when I am at my lowest, I laugh when I see no humour, I help others when I need help myself. I am alone. If I were to show any sign, even for a moment, of what I'm going through, I would have to read the details in some tabloid the following day. Everything I do is only a phone call away from a friendly journalist with an open cheque book. I don't know where I have found the strength to maintain this facade and never break down in anyone's presence. The final volume of Jeffrey Archer's prison diaries covers the period of his transfer from Wayland to his eventual release on parole in July 2003. It includes a shocking account of the traumatic time he spent in the notorious Lincoln jail and the events that led to his incarceration there it also throws light on a system that is close to breaking point. Told with humour, compassion and honesty, it closes with a thought-provoking manifesto that should be applauded by the Establishment and prison population alike.

Why was an elegant lady brutally murdered the night before 9/11?
 
Why was a successful New York banker not surprised to receive a woman’s left ear in the morning mail?
 
Why did a top Manhattan lawyer work only for one client, but never charge a fee?
 
Why did a young woman with a bright career steal a priceless Van Gogh painting?
Why was an Olympic gymnast paid a million dollars an assignment when she didn’t have a bank account?
 
Why was an honors graduate working as a temporary secretary after inheriting a fortune?
 
Why was an English Countess ready to kill the banker, the lawyer and the gymnast even if it meant spending the rest of her life in jail?
 
Why was a Japanese steel magnate happy to hand over $50,000,000 to a woman he had only met once? 
 
Why was a senior FBI agent trying to work out the connection between these eight apparently innocent individuals?
 
All these questions are answered in Jeffrey Archer’s latest novel, False Impression, but not before a breathtaking journey of twists and turns that will take readers from New York to London to Bucharest and on to Tokyo, and finally a sleepy English village, where the mystery of Van Gogh’s last painting will finally be resolved.
 
And only then will readers discover that Van Gogh’s Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear has a secret of its own that acts as the final twist in this unforgettable yarn.

Jeffrey Archer, one of the greatest popular novelists of our generation, delivers a truly page-turning thriller. When an aristocratic old lady is brutally murdered in her country home the night before 9/11, it takes all the resources of the FBI and Interpol to work out the connection between her and the possible motive for her death a priceless Van Gogh painting. It's a young woman in the North Tower when the first plane crashed into the building who has the courage and determination to take on both sides of the law and avenge the old lady's death. Anna Petrescu is missing, presumed dead, after 9/11 and she uses her new status to escape from America, only to be pursued across the world from Toronto to London, to Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bucharest, but it is only when she returns to New York that the mystery unfolds. Why are so many people willing to risk their own lives and others' to own the Van Gogh Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear?