I read “Kane and Abel” more than twenty years ago when I was still at college. Jeffrey Archer was one of the popular authors and this book was one of the most sought after. It must have been amongst the first few books that I enjoyed in popular English writing. When I started the blog, I wanted to write about the book but my memory of the whole story was very hazy and I did not want to do a poor copy-paste job with content from wiki. I finally read the book again last year and enjoyed it once again thoroughly.
This is a story of two men separated by distance, heritage, culture, upbringing but united in their destiny. One of them is born in Russia in very poor family and the other is born in United States with silver spoon. Both the men create their fortunes through grit and determination but are each other’s sworn enemies due to wrong information about each other. On top of that their children end up falling in love with each other. In the end everything falls in place but the story keeps you engaged till the end.
There are many sequences and characters that you like more than the main story and the protagonists. Abel’s friend George or his daughter Florentyna’s Governess really take you by surprise. They are shown as simple people but fiercely loyal and proud. Similarly, Kane’s love story and how he proposes to his wife and gets married is really interesting. Love and chivalry at its best. Another interesting sequence was where Abel tries to correct his daughter’s behaviour with help of her Governess and does not take his daughter’s side against his employees.
It is a great book to read with true heroes who show once again that grit, determination and strong character always pays you and even though there may be some bad people in the world, you will still find good people who will help you in tough times.
I also ended up reading the sequel “The Prodigal Daughter” but I will get to that story some other time.
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