Don8217;t have the knowledge to write an Indian novel: Jeffrey Archer

8220;I am flattered that so many people want me to write the Indian novel. I can8217;t do it. I like to do it but I can8217;t do it,8221; he says.

However,a story of a Delhi couple who fall in love while waiting at a traffic signal had featured a few years ago in 8220;And Thereby Hangs a Tale8221;,a collection of 15 stories he had gathered from incidents around the globe.

8220;Best Kept Secret8221; was released in India ahead of its UK publication day.

The author of bestsellers like 8220;Not a Penny More,Not a Penny Less8221;,8221;Kane and Abel8221;,8221;As the Crow Flies8221; and 8220;First Among Equals8221; terms India as an amazing market.

8220;Indians love storytellers. You are a very large leadership. There are 200-250 million middle class readers in India. This is bigger readership than America. So India is an amazing market,8221; he says.

Of the 1000 people who came to hear him speak in Bangalore,80 per cent were under 20.

8220;I spoke in Dubai,addressed 1000 people,the average age of the people who attended was 40.8221;

The former Tory MP comes back again and again because he 8220;likes8221; the people. 8220;I am very excited by the speed the country is moving. Things are all changing in front of my eyes. And people too,the people are changing. The new generation of women are much more self confident and clearly can play a major role in Indian life.

8220;And you are becoming almost the largest middle class nation on earth. Clearly there are a lot of people in poverty,lot of people not employed and with no future. But because of the sheer size of India,the middle class is growing every day.8221;

However,the traffic in India irritates him a lot. 8220;8230; But I have got used to it. Bicycles on the outside lane,cows on the middle of the road and people just parking where they felt like. And often the slow lorries on the outside lanes.8221;

What keeps him going?

8220;The fear of stopping8230; I can8217;t stop. I got to work. I have a passion for work. And I have got to finish these five books 8216;The Clifton Chronicles8217;,any case. And then I got to write short stories and then possibly the biggest novel I had any idea about. I am driven,8221; he says.

Archer,however,does not have any plans for his memoirs and says 8220;The Clifton Chronicles8221; is very autobiographical.

8220;Lot of me and Harry,lot of my wife and Emma,my mother and Maisie. So it8217;s pretty autobiographical and Harry is a writer.8221;

He has great admiration for R K Narayan and Vikram Seth and love their writings.

What is his 8216;best kept secret8217;?

8220;Probably that I would have loved to have half a dozen daughters and or half a dozen granddaughters. I have got two lovely sons and a grandson. But that8217;s not 8216;good enough8217;.8221; Published in India by Pan Macmillan India,8221;Best Kept Secret8221; bears all the hallmarks of a classic Archer thriller,keeping the reader guessing throughout with his fast-paced narrative and nail-biting cliff-hangers. It takes the reader on a breakneck journey from Bristol to the US and on to Buenos Aires in the mid 1950s.

Spanning the 20th century,8221;The Clifton Chronicles8221; is a gripping family saga of the trials and tribulations of the Clifton and Barringtons,two families at opposite ends of the social spectrum.

8220;Only Time Will Tell8221; is the first novel in 8220;The Clifton Chronicles8221;. The epic tale of Harry Clifton8217;s life begins in 1920,with the words 8220;I was told that my father was killed in the war.8221;

A dock worker in Bristol,Harry never knew his father and expects to continue on at the shipyard,until a remarkable gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys8217; school and his life changes.

8220;Sins of the Father8221; is the second book in the series and begins from the time before Britain declares war on Germany.

In 8220;Best Kept Secret8221;,Harry Clifton is now a best-selling novelist and has built a new life with Emma Barrington and their son Sebastian. As they begin their married life together,they face danger and disloyalty not only from within the Barrington family but from a shady figure from Harry8217;s past.

The cast of colourful characters includes the scheming Lady Virginia and a ruthless South American criminal,Don Pedro Martinez.

As in the first two novels,the drama is seen through the eyes of each of the main characters,highlighting how differently they perceive the action that unfolds before the readers8217; eyes.

This installment of the mesmerizing saga brings us up to the 1960s,with another dramatic and unexpected ending with tragic consequences.