The Prodigal Daughter

De: Jeffrey Archer

Narrado por: Lorelei King

Duración: 14 h y 35 m

Resumen del Editor

Master storyteller Jeffrey Archer keeps listeners hooked with The Prodigal Daughter.

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.

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 - and to build a future with the woman he loves.

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.

©1982 Jeffrey Archer (P)2013 Macmillan Audio

Another fantastic book by Jeffrey Archer

Always spellbinding. You just can't resist getting the next one. Great story, lots of surprises, wonderful, rich characters. I love every Jeffrey Archer book I've listened to...

Boring repetition after exciting Kane & Abel

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The end of Kane & Abel was one scenario of many possible scenarios. It would have been exciting if in the Prodigal Daughter the original story would have ended differently, just to make a difference.

What was most disappointing about Jeffrey Archer’s story?

Half of the book was just a recap of Kane & Abel. If you heard Kane & Abel just beforehand, it is very boring.

Not Enough Meat

This book was weird. I don’t mean the storyline or the plot, that was good enough, but I mean the way it was written. I felt like I was reading an outline instead of a novel.

The first part of the book covered what we already knew from Book 1 - Kane & Abel, but from the POV of Able’s daughter Florentyna. I felt it was logical that this part of the story was told in bold strokes because it was a recap, but I didn’t realise that this segment was going to take up nearly half the book and that the almost point-form style of the writing would continue throughout.

It’s as if the author wrote up the entire outline of the story with all the plot points in place, next he started to randomly pepper it with a little bit of dialogue here and there, he developed certain scenes in more detail, then gave up and decided to submit that as the finished product.

I was never able to warm up to the writing style. With almost no dialogue, we only sporadically heard the character’s voice and therefore never really built an emotional connection to anyone. Consequently, I felt more annoyed by Florentyna rise to the top – it was more like: here we go again, “everything she does is winner” instead of feeling happy for her that she achieved a goal and feeling for her through her struggles to get there.

I’m still in for book 3 and I will read it next while the story is still fresh in my mind but I really hope that the high-level almost point-form format does not continue in the next instalment!

good continued storyline

book was a great continuation of the previous book and now looking forward to listening to the next one

Disappointment From 1st Book

This 2nd book in the series did not live up to the 1st book in the series, Kane and Abel. It lacks authentic characters and weak plot.

The Prodigal Daughter

The first book in this series, Kane & Abel was released in 1980, the last by 1982. At minimum, read Kane & Abel, it is super – an extremely popular 1980s book, made into a mini-series in 1985.

The story is a familial-character driven tale, spanning decades. Kane and Abel are both born on the same day in 1906. William Lowell Kane is heir to a banking empire in New York City. Baron Abel Rosnovski, aka Wladek Koskiewicz, is born to poverty and nightmarish violence in war-torn Poland. Abel makes his way to New York and is eventually refused a bank loan by Kane’s board of directors. Blaming Kane for this embarrassing shun, Abel makes his way to a pinnacle of success as a hotelier. This has only been possible due to anonymous financial backing. Decades of visceral hatred ensue, but it isn’t hard to guess the identity of the philanthropist. Narrated by Jason Culp, about 20 hours of listening, release by Macmillon Audio.

Book two, The Prodigal Daughter is the story of the descendants of William and Abel, Richard Kane and Florentyna Rosnovski. They meet by chance, fall in love, and flee to San Francisco to escape the wrath of their fathers. The first part of this book is a replay of Kane & Abel through the eyes of Richard and Florentyna. Exactly. Same-o-same-o, precisely, only a different point of view. Starting at about Chapter 23, the story of The Prodigal Daughter lifts off. Archer’s characters in The Prodigal Daughter are like those of Danielle Steele, i.e., drop-dead gorgeous, filthy rich, hearts of gold. Florentyna successfully opens dozens of her own boutiques, eventually manages her father’s hotel dynasty. The boutiques and hotels merge. Richard and Florentyna move on the bank just because they don’t want to buy one; Richard becomes bank chairman. The story steps further beyond credibility when Florentyna nearly becomes POTUS and accepts the VP slot. The two become astronauts and … that part’s a lie. Also Macmillon Audio, but narrated by Lorelei King. About 15 hours long.

Book three, Shall We Tell the President, a short audiobook, is less than eight hours in length. also Macmillon Audio, also narrated by Lorelei King. The story begins with Florentyna winning the position of POTUS, a roll she has fulfilled since the untimely death of her predecessor. An assassination is attempted and the story is off an running. Much better than The Prodigal Daughter. An interesting aside: When this book was written 1982, President Kane is confronted with gun control – and is concerned about ‘a house divided’ on this volatile issue. Sound familiar? Although the story is fiction, a British author pointed out in 1982 what we argue today, close to 40 years later. *sigh*

No issues with narration in any book.

General opinions: Kane & Abel is an excellent story, and highly recommended. The rest of the series is not. Archer should have started with Chapter 23 of The Prodigal Daughter and combined an abbreviated Shall We Tell the President. In summary, book one is great, book two a look into how the ridiculously wealthy live, book three is a decent who-done-it, albeit short for my taste.

Outstanding audio

One of top writer Jeffery Archer' best stories. High quality audio and talented narration. Highly recommend whole series

The narrator was terrible

I have loved every one of Jeffrey Archer's books and this one I enjoyed but felt the ending...the last 25% of the book...was weak...not intriguing. This narrator almost ruined Archer's book! She was hard to tolerate. She was cold, stoic & read without any passion at all.

Florantina's Early Life x 2

More than half of the book was an abridged version of Florantina's life in Kane and Able. Boring! The latter part of the book was good.

I have listened to ten or more of Archer's books and would give them all five stars. Unfortunately not this one.

Just ok

I love Jeffrey Archer but this wasn’t one of his best books. Most places sounded like a politicians autobiography… I enjoyed it but was really ready for it to end. Disappointed.