Prodigal daughter, by Jeffery Archer was published first in 1982.
It is story of Florentyna Rosnovski, as she grows up in Chicago during World War II.She marries the son of her father’s arch enemy. She makes her retail business successful, helps her husband in his banking profession and enjoys her family life. She enters the local politics, becomes vice-president and then reaches the pinnacle of her ambition ’’The presidency of United States’’. Yes her ambition was ultimate.
Yes it is sequel to ’’Kane and Abel’’ but it goes much beyond the revenge of two men. I like the book also because it’s protoganist is a woman. She was gifted with beauty and spirit but above all that with indomitable will. Her ambitions dwarfs both Kane and Abel. I had not been so taken with the lead character in a book since ’’Dagny Taggart in ’Atlas Shrugged’’’ or ’’Emma Harte in ’Woman Of Substance’’’ It is kind of story from which dreams are made. The author has done a credible job of developing character, time and place. It is magnificent story of love and politics.
The book core theme is politics. We don’t have a high opinion of politics and politicians.Qutoing Floryentena ’’It must be thought a modern tragedy that more young people do not consider politics an honourable and worthwhile profession. We must change the atmosphere in the corridors of power so that the very brightest of our youth does not dismiss, virtually without consideration, a career in public life. None of us has ever doubted for a moment the integrity of Washington, Adams, Jefferson or Lincoln. Why shouldn’t we today produce another generation of statesmen, who will bring back to our vocabulary the words duty, pride and honour without a suggestion being greeted with sarcasm or scorn’’.
How true? I am reminded of the words of John.F.Kennedy ’’Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country’’, It shows the politics in all its shades, the good, bad and ugly.
The book is divided into three sections:
Past : 1934-1968
Present : 1968-1982
Future : 1982-1995.
The Future is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the book, published in 1982, the author wrote of ’’The Future’’ with events taking place as he thought they might upto 1995, which is now firmly in our past. Hats off the imagniation of the author.
I liked, ’’The Past’’ beause it captures the pleasures, pains, hopes of growing up. Infacts one can take tips on parenting from it. What is important to a growing child, eductaion yes but with it also learning the
-Disicpline( which her English governess Miss Tredgold imbibed in her),
-Planning (Hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. As Miss Tredgold said one should have contingency plan something you need when everything else you have planned is no longer possible’’
-Learning that the world is not fair. There are prejudices but we should also be prepared to cope with them. Florentyna in school is teased as ’’Stupid Polack’’. Her father , Abel Rosnovski, a hotel baron, wants to pull her out of the school. Bus Miss Tredgold wisely says ’’If on the first occassion the child encounters some problem, you choose to run away from it, how can I hope to teach her to cope with life. I cannot approve of disguising the real wold because you have enough money. You should have told your daugther a long time ago the significance of being Polish and how to deal with any problems that might arise because of it.’’
-Answering your child’s questions fairly even on subjects like ’’birds and bees’’. When Floryentena asks Miss Tedgold about how babies are born, Miss Tredgold explains to her in fullest details the birth process, warning her of a rash desire to experiment. The words of Miss Tredgold are etched in my mind ’’Modern society and loose morals make a lot of demands on girls but remember each of us makes one own’s decision as to what others think of us, and more importantly what we think of others’’. I hope to follow the path when my daughter asks me the question.
-Listening to your heart, What do you say when you own flesh and blood tells you that you are marrying the daughter of your arch rival William Kane threathned like any other parent ’’Now listen to me Richard If you marry the Rosnovski girl I will cut you off without a penny.’’ Richard replies ’’You suffer like the generation of our family, Father, from imagning money can buy everything. Your son is not for sale’’.
These small incidents are described so beautifully and the approach is so practical. Floryentena is not painted as a good girl. She makes her mistakes (her being class monitor going to her head) but what set her apart is learning from those mistakes (Her winning the Woolson Prize). Her first day in hostel reminded me of my first day. How friendships was formed in college and how we enjoyed thinking of falling in love. How we stood by our friends who fell in love or whose heart were broken. I went down the memory lane thinking about my childhood and college days.
The author has done commendable job. His imagination is great. He understands human nature and bring out beuatifully. He uses quotes judiciosuly. I shall end the review by one of my favroite lines from the book:
’’There is tendency among the old to say that the youth of today do not compare with their forefathers. I am reminded of the carving on the side of one of the tombs of The Pharaohs which translated reads ’’The young are lazy and preoccupied wuth themselves and will surely cause the downfall of the world as we know it’’ The graduates cheered while the parents laugher. Winston Churchill once said :’’When I was sixteen, I thought my parents knwe nothing. When I was twenty-one, I was shocked to discover how much they had pickhed up in the last five years’’.The parents applauded and the students smiled.
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