Kane and Abel

Kane and Abel is a 1979 novel by British author Jeffrey Archer. The title and story is a play on the Biblical brothers, Cain and Abel. Released in the United Kingdom in 1979 and in the United States in February 1980, the book was an international success.

The book tells the stories of two men born worlds apart. They have nothing in common except the same date of birth (April 18, 1906) and a zeal to succeed in life. William Lowell Kane is a wealthy and powerful Boston Brahmin while Abel Rosnovski (originally named Wladek Koskiewicz) is a Pole born into desperate poverty who eventually emigrates to the United States.