Kane and Abel Books in Order By Jeffrey Archer
And His Standalones
If you have to pay a bill, always make it look as if the amount is of no consequence.
― Jeffrey Archer, Kane and Abel
Kane and Abel Series
- Kane and Abel (1979)
- The Prodigal Daughter (1982)
- Shall We Tell the President? (1986 – Revised Edition)
Standalones
- Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1976)
- First Among Equals (1984)
- A Matter of Honour (1986)
- As the Crow Flies (1991)
- Honour Among Thieves (1993)
- The Fourth Estate (1996)
- The Eleventh Commandment (1998)
- Sons of Fortune (2002)
- False Impression (2005)
- The Gospel According to Judas (2007)
- A Prisoner of Birth (2008)
- Paths of Glory (2009)
- Heads You Win (2018)
What is Kane and Abel about?
Kane and Abel is a trilogy that begins with two men, who born on opposite sides of the world have nothing in common. Except for one thing, they share the same date of birth. William Kane and Abel Rosnovski have a chance meeting one time and it changes their fates forever.
The first book follows the lives of these two characters, spanning sixty years of their lives as they work hard to get themselves on top. All the while trying to best the other. The second book onwards follows Abel’s daughter, Florentyna.
The first book was an international success, selling over one million copies within its first week! In 2009, it is estimated to have sold around 34 million copies worldwide, having been translated into 33 different languages. According to his website, Kane and Abel is the 34th most sold novel in the world.
In 1985, it was adapted into a TV mini-series, starring Sam Neill and Peter Strauss.
Who is Jeffrey Archer?
Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-Super-Mare was born on 15th of April in 1940. He is an English novelist, life peer, former politician and a convicted criminal. Before he became an author, Archer was a politician and served as a Member of Parliament for Louth in Lincolnshire for the conservative party from 1969-1974. He did not seek re-election due to a financial scandal that had left him almost bankrupt. He was able to revive his fortunes as a novelist. Kane and Abel remains one of the best-selling books in the world, with an estimated 34 million copies sold worldwide; altogether, his books have sold more than 320 million copies worldwide, and have been translated into 33 different languages.
He is married to Mary Archer, a scientist who specialises in solar power.
Pride has never been a virtue. There are some occasions on which it is wise to remain silent.
― Jeffrey Archer, The Prodigal Daughter
The Order
With the Kane and Abel trilogy, we highly recommend reading them in the order as shown below. When it comes to its standalones, and you fancy reading through them all, again as always, we would recommend going through them in publication order. This is so that as you go through them, you will see Jeffrey Archer’s writing style develop as he learns what works and what doesn’t. However, if you are not wanting to read through them all, then find the ones that appeal most to you and begin there. You may be surprised, your next favourite book could be amongst them!
WARNING: There will be spoilers for some of the books mentioned. These are taken from the official descriptions but can sometimes spoil huge parts of previous books. So please be careful!
Kane and Abel Series
1. Kane and Abel (1979)
Kane and Abel #1
161,050 words, 592 pages, 10hrs 45mins to read
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
4.32 out of 5 on Goodreads
Born on the same day near the turn of the century on opposite sides of the world, both men are brought together by fate and the quest of a dream. These two men — ambitious, powerful, ruthless — are locked in a relentless struggle to build an empire, fuelled by their all-consuming hatred. Over 60 years and three generations, through war, marriage, fortune, and disaster, Kane and Abel battle for the success and triumph that only one man can have.
2. The Prodigal Daughter (1982)
Kane and Abel #2
135,625 words, 485 pages, 9hrs to read
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
3.97 out of 5 on Goodreads
HER FUTURE IS AMBITION.
With a will of steel, Polish immigrant Florentyna Rosnovski is indeed Abel’s daughter. She shares with her father a love of America, his ideals, and his dream for the future. But she wants more: to be the first female president.
HIS FUTURE IS WEALTH.
Golden boy Richard Kane was born into a life of luxury. The scion of a banking magnate he is successful, handsome, and determined to carve his own path in the world―with the woman he loves.
BUT THEIR PAST HOLDS A SECRET…
With Florentyna’s ultimate goal only a heartbeat away, both are about to discover the shattering price of power as a titanic battle of betrayal and deception reaches out from the past―a blood feud between two generations that threatens to destroy everything Florentyna and Richard have fought to achieve.
3. Shall We Tell the President? (1986 – Revised Edition)
Kane and Abel #3
68,610 words, 228 pages, 4hrs 35mins to read
Published by Jonathan Cape
3.79 out of 5 on Goodreads
After years of great sacrifice and deep personal tragedy, Florentyna Kane’s has finally become the first woman president in America. But on the very day that she is sworn into office, powerful forces are already in motion to take her life.
The FBI investigates thousands of false threats every year. This time, a reliable source has tipped them off about an assassination attempt. One hour later, the informant and all but one of the investigating agents are dead. The lone survivor: FBI Special Agent Mark Andrews. Now, only he knows when the killers will strike. But how can he alone unravel a ruthless conspiracy—in less than one week? The race to save the first woman president begins now…
Standalones
1. Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1976)
70,965 words, 305 pages, 4hrs 40mins to read
Published by Jonathan Cape
4.04 out of 5 on Goodreads
The conned: an Oxford don, a revered society physician, a chic French art dealer, and a charming English lord. They have one thing in common. Overnight, each novice investor lost his life’s fortune to one man. The con: Harvey Metcalfe!!
A brilliant, self-made guru of deceit. A very dangerous individual. And now, a hunted man.
With nothing left to lose four strangers are about to come together-each expert in their own field. Their plan: find Harvey, shadow him, trap him, and penny-for-penny, destroy him. From the luxurious casinos of Monte Carlo to the high-stakes windows at Ascot to the bustling streets of Wall Street to fashionable London galleries, their own ingenious game has begun. It’s called revenge-and they were taught by a master
2. First Among Equals (1984)
124,930 words, 496 pages, 8hrs 20mins to read
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
3.91 out of 5 on Goodreads
Playing for the highest stakes of all . . .
In the 1960s, four ambitious new MPs take their seats at Westminster. Over three decades they share the turbulent passions of the race for power with their wives and families, men and women caught up in a dramatic game for the higest stakes of all. But only one man can gain the ultimate goal – the office of Prime Minister.
3. A Matter of Honour (1986)
94,850 words, 452 pages, 6hrs 20mins to read
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
3.95 out of 5 on Goodreads
The opening of a letter leads to a desperate chase across Europe in A Matter of Honour by Jeffrey Archer, one of the world’s bestselling novelists.
Adam Scott listens to the reading of his father’s will, aware that the contents can only be meagre. The Colonel, after all, had nothing to leave – except a letter he had never opened himself, a letter that can only bring further disgrace to the family name.
Against his mother’s advice, Adam opens the letter, and immediately realizes his life can never be the same again. The contents leave him with no choice but to follow a course his father would have described as a matter of honour.
4. As the Crow Flies (1991)
163,945 words, 800 pages, 11hrs to read
Published by HarperCollins
4.13 out of 5 on Goodreads
Growing up in the slums of East End London, Charlie Trumper dreams of someday running his grandfather’s fruit and vegetable barrow. That day comes suddenly when his grandfather dies leaving him the floundering business. With the help of Becky Salmon, an enterprising young woman, Charlie sets out to make a name for himself as “The Honest Trader”. But the brutal onset of World War I takes Charlie far from home and into the path of a dangerous enemy whose legacy of evil follows Charlie and his family for generations.
Encompassing three continents and spanning over sixty years, As the Crow Flies brings to life a magnificent tale of one man’s rise from rags to riches set against the backdrop of a changing century.
5. Honour Among Thieves (1993)
85,195 words, 416 pages, 5hrs 40mins to read
Published by HarperCollins
3.87 out of 5 on Goodreads
Growing up in the slums of East End London, Charlie Trumper dreams of someday running his grandfather’s fruit and vegetable barrow. That day comes suddenly when his grandfather dies leaving him the floundering business. With the help of Becky Salmon, an enterprising young woman, Charlie sets out to make a name for himself as “The Honest Trader”. But the brutal onset of World War I takes Charlie far from home and into the path of a dangerous enemy whose legacy of evil follows Charlie and his family for generations.
Encompassing three continents and spanning over sixty years, As the Crow Flies brings to life a magnificent tale of one man’s rise from rags to riches set against the backdrop of a changing century.
6. The Fourth Estate (1996)
161,875 words, 742 pages, 10hrs 45mins to read
Published by HarperCollins
3.81 out of 5 on Goodreads
Lubji Hoch survived World War II on luck, guts, and ruthlessness. At the war’s end, renamed Richard Armstrong, he buys a floundering newspaper in Berlin and deviously puts his competitors out of business. But it isn’t enough. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Keith Townsend, the Oxford-educated son of a millionaire newspaper owner, takes over his family’s business. His energy and brilliant strategic thinking quickly make him the leading newspaper publisher in Australia. Still, he longs to move on to the world stage.
As both Armstrong and Townsend seize control of everything they see, their ambitions collide on a global scale. But suddenly they both find themselves threatened by finicial disaster and enormous debt. Frantic to save his crumbling empire, each man turns desperate. One’s quest will lead to triumph, the other’s will end in tragedy in this awesome tale of wealth and corruption, desire and destruction.
7. The Eleventh Commandment (1998)
101,400 words, 448 pages, 6hrs 45mins to read
Published by HarperCollins
3.97 out of 5 on Goodreads
Connor Fitzgerald is a professional’s professional. Holder of the Medal of Honor. Devoted family man. Servant of his country. But for the past twenty-eight years, Fitzgerald has been leading a double life as the CIA’s most deadly assassin. And only days before his retirement from the CIA, he comes across an enemy who, for the first time, even he cannot handle. The enemy is his own boss – Helen Dexter – the director of the CIA. Dexter’s stranglehold on the agency is threatened by one decision, and her only hope of survival is to destroy Fitzgerald. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a formidable new foe is threatening the United States: a ruthless hard-line Russian president, who is determined to force a new military confrontation between the two superpowers.
From emergency meetings in the Oval Office to a Russian mafya boss’s luxurious hideaway outside St. Petersburg, The Eleventh Commandment sweeps readers off their feet from the first paragraph. As in Jeffrey Archer’s previous bestsellers, The Eleventh Commandment features enough plot-twisting ingenuity, exotic characterization, and narrative surprise to take the art of thriller writing to a new level. In his latest novel, Jeffrey Archer is at the peak of his page-turning powers.
8. Sons of Fortune (2002)
124,520 words, 608 pages, 8hrs 20mins to read
Published by Macmillan
3.92 out of 5 on Goodreads
In the late 1940’s in Hartford, Connecticut a set of twins is parted at birth. Nat Cartwright goes home with his parents, a schoolteacher and an insurance salesman. But his twin brother is to begin his days as Fletcher Andrew Davenport, the only son of a multi-millionaire and his society wife.
During the years that follow, the two brothers grow up unaware of each other’s existence. Nat leaves college at the University of Connecticut to serve in Vietnam. He returns a war hero, finishes school and becomes a successful banker. Fletcher, meanwhile, has graduated from Yale University and distinguishes himself as a criminal defense lawyer before he is elected to the Senate.
9. False Impression (2005)
98,125 words, 538 pages, 6hrs 30mins to read
Published by Macmillan
3.87 out of 5 on Goodreads
When an aristocratic old lady is brutally murdered in her country home the night before 9/11, it takes all the resources of the FBI and Interpol to work out the connection between her and the possible motive for her death – a priceless Van Gogh painting. It’s a young woman in the North Tower when the first plane crashed into the building who has the courage and determination to take on both sides of the law and avenge the old lady’s death.
10. The Gospel According to Judas (2007)
Co-Written with Francis J. Moloney
25,435 words, 101 pages, 1hrs 40mins to read
Published by Macmillan
3.20 out of 5 on Goodreads
The Gospel According to Judas, by Benjamin Iscariot sheds new light on the the mystery of Judas–including his motives for the betrayal and what happened to him after the crucifixion–by retelling the story of Jesus through the eyes of Judas, using the canonical texts as its basic point of reference. Ostensibly written by Judas’s son, Benjamin, and following the narrative style of the Gospels, this re-creation is provocative, compelling, and controversial.
The Gospel According to Judas, by Benjamin Iscariot is the result of an intense collaboration between a storyteller and a scholar: Jeffrey Archer and Francis J. Moloney. Their brilliant work–bold and simple–is a compelling story for twenty-first-century readers, while maintaining an authenticity that would be credible to a first-century Christian or Jew.
11. A Prisoner of Birth (2008)
148,285 words, 501 pages, 9hrs 55mins to read
Published by Macmillan
4.19 out of 5 on Goodreads
If Danny Cartwright had proposed to Beth Wilson the day before, or the day after, he would not have been arrested and charged with the murder of his best friend. But when the four prosecution witnesses are a barrister, a popular actor, an aristocrat, and the youngest partner in an established firm’s history, who is going to believe his side of the story?
Danny is sentenced to twenty-two years and sent to Belmarsh prison, the highest-security jail in the land, from where no inmate has ever escaped.
However, Spencer Craig, Lawrence Davenport, Gerald Payne, and Toby Mortimer all underestimate Danny’s determination to seek revenge, and Beth’s relentless quest to pursue justice, which ends up with all four fighting for their lives.
12. Paths of Glory (2009)
103,430 words, 418 pages, 6hrs 55mins to read
Published by Macmillan
4.00 out of 5 on Goodreads
Some people have dreams that are so magnificent that if they were to achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed. People like Christopher Columbus, Isaac Newton, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Edison, Nancy Astor, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Edmund Hilary and Neil Armstrong—their unparalleled success has made their stories into legend.
But what if one man had such a dream, and once he’d achieved it, there was no proof that he had fulfilled his ambition?
13. Heads You Win (2018)
146,920 words, 448 pages, 9hrs 50mins to read
Published by Macmillan
3.83 out of 5 on Goodreads
Leningrad, Russia, 1968. Alexander Karpenko is no ordinary child, and from an early age, it is clear he is destined to lead his countrymen. But when his father is assassinated by the KGB for defying the state, he and his mother will have to escape from Russia if they hope to survive. At the docks, they are confronted with an irreversible choice: should they board a container ship bound for America, or Great Britain? Alexander leaves that choice to the toss of a coin . . .
In a single moment, a double twist decides Alexander’s future. During an epic tale of fate and fortune, spanning two continents and thirty years, we follow his triumphs and defeats as he struggles as an immigrant to conquer his new world. As this unique story unfolds, Alexander comes to realize where his destiny lies, and accepts that he must face the past he left behind in Russia.
But then, behind every great man . . . is a surprised mother-in-law.
― Jeffrey Archer, Heads You Win
Overall
The Kane and Abel series is one of the most sold novels in the world and so it definitely is not one that should be overlooked. The series takes on the tale as old as time helps to make this trilogy timeless. His standalones are also ones that you should consider when thinking about what to read next. There truly are some great ones in the mix.
If you have enjoyed any of Jeffrey Archer’s work and want to learn more about his or any other of his work, then feel free to check out his website or you can give him a follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Which one is your favourite or most looking forward to picking up next?
Let us know!
Happy reading!
Making a million legally has always been difficult. Making a million illegally has always been a little easier. Keeping a million when you have made it is perhaps the most difficult of all.
― Jeffrey Archer, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less
Total Word Count in the Kane and Abel Series and More!
Kane and Abel
- Total words: 365,285 words
- Total pages: 1,305 pages
- Total reading time: 24hrs 20mins
Standalones
- Total words: 1,449,875 words
- Total pages: 6,273 pages
- Total reading time: 96hrs 40mins
Altogether
- Total words: 1,815,160 words
- Total pages: 7,578 pages
- Total reading time: 121hrs
More of the same, but different:
For More of Anything:
Things to Note:
- Word count is an approximation.
- Amount of pages may differ due to different publications, font style and/or size etc.
- Time spent reading is generally an approximation based on the word count and the average reading time. The average reader will read 250 WPM (Words Per Minute).
- This is the original publisher of the books.
- The current Goodreads score at the time of writing.
- For more information on word lengths and what they mean, check out our handy guide here.
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