Another Warwick Victory

As the seventh part of the series releases, Jeffery Archer speaks with Bazaar India about the bestseller and 40 years of being a writer.

- STUTI AGARWAL

I can still smell my mum’s copy of The Eleventh Commandment on the bedside table. It is only a matter of time before pages catch moisture in Darjeeling, and with both mum and dad taking turns to read this (then) just released Jeffery Archer novel, it had enough time to breathe the musty smell into its spine. It is the first memory I have of my parents reading, and it fascinated me. What was it about the novel that made both of them read it? I remember picking it up, trying to put the words together (the year was 1999 and I was only seven), but everything about it—from its thickness to the serious orange-blue cover and the words I couldn’t do much with—seemed daunting, too serious for someone who was still getting the hang of Enid Blyton. 

But the feeling never left me. While my parents’ section of Jeffery Archer books on the shelf grew over the years, it became one that I never steered towards...until about a month ago, when my mum heard about his upcoming novel and got excited (to put it mildly). I had to, if just to connect with my mother, see what the hype was about, so I went back to the musty smell, but of Nothing Ventured, his first William Warwick adventure. To cut the long story short, I have now got the rest of the series shipped to Delhi. 

To have managed to get a peek into the author’s mind so soon into becoming his reader was a dream, and one that had me taking notes. 

Harper’s Bazaar: How has William Warwick evolved for you over the seven books?