Jeffrey Archer — #100FavouriteAuthors
The man who wrote Kane and Abel
Sometimes, an author’s entire career is defined by that one great book he/she wrote. For me, Jeffrey Archer’s greatest work, which overshadows the rest of his work, is Kane and Abel.
It is a magnificent story that spans generations.
It starts off in 1906, when two men are born on the same day, but worlds apart — William Lovell Kane, born to the wealthy class of Boston, and Abel Rosnovski, born in great poverty in Poland, eventually migrating to the United States of America. They both rise to power in entirely different ways, and at a flashpoint in the book, their paths cross. The story ends sometime in 1967.
There are two more books that come after this.
One is The Prodigal Daughter, which follows the story of Florentyna, Abel’s daughter. A third was Shall We Tell The President?, which was intended to be a partially real story about a plot to assassinate President Ted Kennedy. But they serve as mere companion pieces to the original story, which stands as a classic all by itself.
Here are some other books I admire of his.
Honour Among Thieves
The Fourth Estate
Paths Of Glory
Cat O’ Nine Tales
A Prisoner of Birth
A fascinating fact about him is that he loves cricket, and his favourite cricketers are VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. He loves the Kolkata Test — every self-respecting Englishman loves it when the Aussies get a taste of their own medicine eh?
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