Archer creates two main characters from totally disparate backgrounds, and then/by alternating characters from one chapter to the next, shows how very similar the two really are. William Kane and Abel Rosnovski seem to be diametrically opposed. Perhaps no scene in the book suggests their differences as clearly as the opening chapters detailing the men's births. Kane, the scion of a wealthy Boston family, is born in an immaculate Boston hospital, the same year that Abel's nameless peasant mother dies bearing her son in a Polish forest. Their characters develop reflecting the circumstances...
Source: Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction, ©2001 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved. Full copyright.
(The entire page is 374 words.)
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