Kane and Abel (novel)
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.
The
book tells the stories of two men born worlds apart. They have nothing in
common except the same date of birth (18 April 1906 in the book, and 1901 in
the miniseries based on it) and a zeal to succeed in life. William Lowell Kane
is a wealthy and powerful Boston
Brahmin while Abel Rosnovski (originally
named Władek Koskiewicz) is a Pole who was born in a situation of great poverty and eventually
migrated to the United States.
William
follows the steps of his father, Richard Kane, to become a successful banker.
When William was still a child, Richard dies in the Titanic disaster, leaving William fatherless and heir to the Kane
& Cabot bank. William displays extraordinary discipline and intelligence as
a young man at St. Paul's School and later at Harvard. His mother, Anne, marries Henry Osborne, who turns out to
be interested in gambling and women (One of the godparents of William). William
hates Henry from the beginning and spends most of the time at Harvard and at
his best friend Mathew Lester's home. William dreams of becoming the chairman
of Lester's bank one day. Henry spends every last penny of Kane's mother's
money on the pretext of speculation. Anonymous notes warn Anne (who has been
impregnated by Osborne, a matter which causes William some worry—until he finds
out that he can toss Henry out easily without any money) about her husband
whose real name is Vitorio Tossana. She hires a detective to find out the
truth, and miscarries fatally from the shock—after which Kane ejects Henry from
his home.
Władek
Koskiewicz is born in a forest and raised by a trapper family. When he grows up
and is found to have exceptional intelligence, Baron Rosnovski asks him to
become a companion to his son Leon so Wladek might prove to be a competition to
him. Władek agrees to go to the Baron's castle on the condition that he can
bring along his elder sister Florentyna. Soon afterwards, World War I breaks
out. Germans attack Poland and capture the Baron, his staff and son in his
castle. Leon dies by the hand of a soldier. Before dying, the Baron hands
Wladek his silver band of authority. Władek realises that the Baron was his
father when he finds that, like him, the Baron also had a missing nipple.
Florentyna, Władek's beloved sister, who was now his only family, is raped 17
times and killed brutally in front of young Władek by Russian soldiers.
Władek
was then moved to Siberia
from where he manages to escape to Turkey after facing many hardships. There he nearly loses his hand
(a common punishment in the Middle East and in the Ottoman empire, predecessor
of Turkey, before 20th century) for stealing food but is luckily rescued by two
British diplomats, owing to the silver band given by Baron which he wore on the
hand. They transfer him to the Polish consulate from where, with their help, he
migrates to America and assumes the name Abel Rosnovski (as inscribed on the
silver band).
He
starts his life as a waiter in the Hotel Plaza, while taking night classes in
economics at Columbia University.
While Abel is working there, Davis Leroy, owner of the Richmond group of
hotels, is impressed by his work and appoints him manager of his flagship
hotel. Abel converts the ill-managed hotel to a profit-making one and buys
stock in the chain. During the Great
Depression, the hotel needs a backer and
Davis, unable to find one, commits suicide, leaving the remaining shares in the
Richmond Group to Abel. Before committing suicide, Davis mentions that Kane
& Cabot was the bank that didn't support him. Abel thus plans for revenge
and considers Kane his arch rival who was responsible for the death of his
closest friend. The bank gets him an anonymous backer. Abel assumes it to be
David Maxton, owner of Stevens' hotel. During this time, Abel catches up with
his old time friend, George Novak and marries Zaphia—both Polish emigres he had
met on the ship-journey to the United States from Turkey in his earlier life.
Abel
changes the name of the hotel from Richmond to Baron and builds up a successful
hotel chain. By collaborating with Henry Osborne, who had by now entered
politics, Abel plans to ruin Kane and his bank. Abel begets a daughter, named
Florentyna in memory of his dead sister , while Kane has a son, Richard and two
daughters, Virginia and Lucy. Both Kane and Abel had volunteered to serve
during World War II.
Abel during World War II
had saved Kane's life in France, unaware of each other. He divorces Zaphia when
he returns home from the war.
Meanwhile
Kane's bank and Lester's bank merge and a provision is made that anyone who has
a share of 8% can summon board meetings. Abel tries desperately to obtain 8% of
the bank's stock but Kane manages to thwart his attempts. They unknowingly meet
each other many times throughout the novel.
Florentyna
Rosnovski, daughter of Abel Rosnovski and Richard Kane, son of William Kane,
happen to meet and fall in love without knowing about the rivalry between their
fathers. They get married despite vehement protests from their fathers and
start a chain of boutique stores named Florentyna's.
Finally,
after Kane exposes Abel's dealings with Osborne and thwarts his ambition to be
named Ambassador to Poland (the position goes to John
Moors Cabot), Abel manages to obtain enough
shares of the bank and ousts Kane from power. In 1967, Kane decides to forgive
his son and daughter-in-law and expresses his wish to meet them. Both he and
Abel observe the grand-opening of the New York branch Florentyna's, from
outside, and they wave at each other. He dies before he is able to see them and
his grandson William. Finally Jeffrey's yarn is unwoven as Abel comes to know
that his backer was not David Maxton, but William Kane. Filled with remorse, he
reconciles with his daughter and son-in-law. Abel dies soon after, and
bequeathes everything to his daughter Florentyna, except his silver band of
authority, which he leaves to his grandson, whom Florentyna and Richard have
named "William Abel Kane".
Adaptations
In
1985 was made into a CBS
television miniseries
titled Kane & Abel starring Peter
Strauss as Rosnovski and Sam
Neill as Kane. The series was adapted
into Doordarshan
series Junoon
which completed 510 episodes and ran for 5 years between 1994-98. Another
Indian adaptation titled Kismat
("Destiny"), produced by YRF Television, was set in Bombay in post-independent India.
References
"BBC – The Big Read". BBC. April 2003, Retrieved 18
November 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment