Customer Reviews
Could it really happen...? - By: L. Fleming, 01 May 2008 
This book, the sequel to the incredible saga Kane & Abel, follows the life of Florentyna Rosnovski - daughter of self made multi-millionaire & entrepreneur Abel.
The book spans over 60 years, from her early school life then charting her marriage & career. We follow the clearly gifted Florentyna through her numerous academic achievements & her involvement with local politics. Following the death of her father, Florentyna becomes head of the Baron Group of hotels, steering it to achieve greater success year on year before returning to the political arena, something she is clearly destined to do. What is there left to do for the woman who has achieved such dizzying heights of achievement & success? Why, Leader of the Free World of course! In a world traditionally dominated by men, Florentyna faces a constant battlein this cut throat world. Can she survive & become America's first female president?
This is yet another page turner from the talented Mr Archer. Not quite as gripping as Kane & Abel, it still however keeps the reader entertained & provides fascinating insights into the world of American Politics, particularly the post Vietnam politics of the late 70s & early 80s. It also introduces the reader to the baffling electoral system & the process for selecting candidates.
Archer wrote The Prodigal Daughter at a time when Margaret Thatcher wasin her first term as PMin the UK, so a woman governing a western superpower was not beyond the realms of possibility & therefore makes the book a little more feasible. Yet, as we know, this is yet to be realisedin the States...we will have to wait until November to find out of fiction could become reality...
They say a week is a long timein politics...well, over 25 is a lifetime ago & it is interesting to see Archer's political predictions & how near or far from the mark they were. There is one particularly poignant speech which Senator Florentyna makes to the Defence Appropriations Committee about the need to build the States' defences to ensure that no more US lives are lostin pointless wars like Vietnam...
The Prodigal Daughter is a great compulsive read. Archer gets you involved with the characters & plot skilfully as ever; & he clearly writes with a great depth of knowledge, being "in the game" himself. My only criticism would be that it appears to be written for an American audience, & Archer's obvious admiration for the country becomes a little mawkish at times.
Despite this I would still not hesitatein recommending this book as an excellent sequel to a contemporary masterpiece.
the saga continues - By: S. Scrivener, 11 Mar 2008 
I've read all Jeffrey Archers booksin the past, some more than once & am now re-reading them. Having read Kane & Abel this book was my next logical choice. It's just as good as the first book & you just can't put it down. It was well worth the one penny I paid for it! It's a very fast paced book & like the first book makes you laugh, cry & get cross. Archer is an excellent writer
Not compared to Kane and Abel - By: , 29 Sep 2003 
Having read Kane & Abel, I was a little bit disappointed with this one. It is not as fast reading as the first one & dives too deep into politics. If you like politics, you will love it.
Excellent Story To Keep You Reading - By: , 12 Aug 2003 This was my first Jeffrey Archer novel. The reason I wanted to start reading Archer novels was because he is known to be a good story teller & this is what I felt I neededin a book at the time. Once I started reading this book I became gripped... I have no massive interestin politics but this isn't a factor when reading such a great story. You become involved with Florentyna's life & although there was no time where I wasin suspense or anything like that I couldn't put the thing down. If you're looking for a great story without having to really concentrate on loads of things then is is an excellent book. The most important thing that this book did for me was a) it kept me reading & b) it made me want to read more Archer novels. What more could you want? An excellent read & I reccommend it to everybody. The Prodigal Daughter is a fine book.
Excellent Sequel to Kane and Abel - By: Imperial Topaz, 18 Nov 2002 The only reason I have rated this book four stars instead of five is that the second half of the book gets really extensively into politics, to the point where it bored me. If you enjoy politics you will certainly rate this book five stars. It follows the life of Abel Rosnofski's daughter from her birth until the epitome of her success,in her 60's. I don't want to give away the ending, but will say that the ending was EXTREMELY satisfying,in spite of my having gotten a bit bogged downin the politics.
