Kane & Abel
1979
- titanic
- poles
- boston brahmins
- historical fiction
- hotelkeepers
- peasants
- capitalists and financiers
- fiction
- peasantry
- fiction, sagas
The story
Kane and Abel is a 1979 novel by British author Jeffrey Archer. Released in the United Kingdom in 1979 and in the United States in February 1980, the book was an international success. It reached No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list. The sequel to Kane and Abel is The Prodigal Daughter, in which Florentyna Kane is the protagonist. Kane & Abel is among the top 100 best-selling books in the world, with a similar number of copies sold as To Kill a Mockingbird and Gone with the Wind. In 2003, Kane and Abel was listed at number 96 on the BBC's survey The Big Read. ---------- Contains: [Kane & Abel: 1/2](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17850605W/Kane_Abel._1_2) Contained in: [Kane & Abel / Sons of Fortune](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16059135W/Kane_Abel_Sons_of_Fortune) [Novels (Kane & Abel / Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less / Prodigal Daughter) ](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1807061W) [Kane and Abel / The Prodigal Daughter / Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less / A Quiver Full of Arrows ](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL23860505W)
What it’s like
Long, brisk chapters that cut between two rival lives, one in a Polish village and one in Boston, with a propulsive, plainspoken prose voice that favours quick scene changes, period detail of ledgers, railway platforms and hotel lobbies, and the steady clatter of ambition. The mood is warm and driving rather than brooding: a sweeping, old-fashioned saga with a page-turner's momentum, a bit of melodrama, and an underlying tenderness toward its strivers. Its textures are the grit of poverty and the glitter of wealth, rendered in broad strokes rather than lingering description, so it suits a long train journey, a holiday read, or a weekend immersed in a big story. Violence occurs in the form of wartime hardship and a few sharp, sudden acts of cruelty and revenge, with some sexual content handled discreetly, and no graphic gore. It is for readers who want a sprawling, character-driven epic about rise, rivalry and family ambition, and who enjoy the satisfaction of a long, absorbing story.
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