Eden’s Clock

Eden’s Clock (American Novels, Number 12), Norman Lock. Bellevue Literary Press (ISBN: 9781954276390) 2025.

Summary: A widowed clocksmith commissioned to repair a clock in San Francisco experiences misadventures enroute and meets Jack London.

In April of 1906, Frederick Heigold spots Jack London in a bar. Heigold wants to tell London his story, not an easy task since Heigold lost his voice to a Civil War wound and uses a slate to communicate. This narrative, the concluding novel in the American Novels series by Norman Lock, reflects the story he wants to share with London, very different than the ones he writes.

After the Civil War, he returned to Dobb’s Ferry and took up his trade as clocksmith. He had a long marriage with his wife Lillian, a suffragist activist, who had recently died from a tragic accident in their home. His talents became widely known, so much so that he had received a commission to repair the Union Deport clock on the Embarcadero in San Francisco. He agrees, and after preparations, goes to New York City to embark on a cross-country journey.

However, that journey will take six months. Through a series of misadventures, he encounters the underside of America. Falling in on arrival, by chance, with the “wrong people” he is arrested and spends months in The Tombs. Finally released, he falls into the clutches of a scamming preacher. Only when he meets up with Bonaparte, a former slave, does he escape, embarking on a merchant ship to the Caribbean. Shipwrecked, he nearly drowns before rescue by residents from Edisto Island. Finally, he embarks on the cross-country trip, meeting a further assortment of characters.

Most of the novel is Heigold’s misadventures. Only the last forty pages chronicle his arrival. A historic detail, reflected in the cover image, is that Heigold’s encounter with London occurs on the eve of the Great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. We spend the novel wondering if Heigold will fix the clock and talk to London.

There is a resilient sadness about Heigold. What drew me in was the narrative voice of this voiceless man. But I must admit that I found myself losing interest during the interminable detours. I wondered, will he ever reach San Francisco? Yet the journey serves a purpose. Heigold’s experiences tell a story of the underside of the American experience. This contrasts with both London’s novels and the popular painting of American Progress, by John Gast (reproduced in the book). Heigold’s tale dispels the utopian dreams of his time and resonates with the questions we have about “American greatness” in our own time.

I’ve not read the previous numbers in this series. But if this is the conclusion, I thought the novel anticlimactic. The interesting narrator and the important theme were not enough to carry the story for me. Unlike other series I’ve read out of order, this didn’t make want to go back and read earlier numbers.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.