MyVoice: Views of our readers 8th October 2026

A master storyteller

Jeffrey Archer was a master storyteller who kept millions of readers spellbound and, many a time, gasping for breath as they turned the pages of his thrillers. His literary journey began in 1976 with his debut novel Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, and fittingly reached its final chapter with Adam & Eve, released on October 6, just a day after his death. This marked the culmination of a remarkable 50-year writing career during which more than 300 million copies of his books were sold worldwide. Archer famously said, “People who survived are storytellers.” How true those words proved to be in his own life! He survived numerous troubles and tribulations and repeatedly reinvented himself, eventually becoming one of the world’s most celebrated storytellers. His life itself reads like one of his own novels with unexpected twists, setbacks, comebacks and, above all, an enduring passion for storytelling.

Tharcius S Fernando,Chennai-92

The great survivor

JeffreyArcher has died at 86, and fittingly, “between writing sessions,” a phrase that captures a man who never truly stopped creating even after his political career ended in disgrace and prison. His life asks us to reconsider how we judge legacy, whether by one disgraceful chapter or by the fuller arc of reinvention that followed it. Few public figures manage to rebuild so completely after public shame. Perhaps Archer’s truest lesson is that redemption, though rarely spoken of kindly in public life, remains possible when talent and persistence refuse to surrender to disgrace. In the end, he leaves behind not scandal but stories, millions of them, still open on bedside tables across the world.

K Chidanand Kumar, Bengaluru

Archer will live on forever

The passing of Lord Jeffrey Archer marks the end of an extraordinary era in contemporary commercial literature. From the timeless, generation-spanning rivalry of Kane and Abel to the intricate multi-volume tapestry of The Clifton Chronicles, his gift for unputdownable narrative arcs, relentless cliffhangers, and vibrant characterizations defined the modern page-turner. It is both deeply tragic and profoundly poetic that he passed away “between writing sessions,” working dedicatedly until his final hours. The arrival of his highly anticipated, just-released World War II epic, Adam & Eve, now bears the bittersweet weight of being his definitive final masterpiece — a novel he proudly believed would rival the finest work of his entire career. Though the master storyteller is no more, his sprawling imagination, his indelible spirit, and the joy he brought to generations of book lovers will live on forever.

Ranganathan Sivakumar,Chennai-603210

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Hans India