Rifts and reconciliations: Adam and Eve, by Jeffrey Archer, reviewed
From our UK edition
The old master of the airport bookstall novel has published for the last time. His fans will be delighted with this vintage Archer. The story concerns the lives of two children born on Armistice Day 1918 – Evelina to Charles, Earl of Brancaster, and Adam to a shepherd on the Brancaster estate. The title echoes the blockbusting Kane and Abel with biblical resonance. The couple’s fortunes are charted to almost the end of the second world war. Adam and Eve fall deeply in love, Eve devoted to farming, Adam to the intellect. On the outbreak of war he is called to duty with the Royal Norfolk Regiment and is eventually awarded both the MC and the VC. Although the writing carries us along at a great pace with many twists and turns, both style and plot are clichéd.
