Sons of Fortune

Sons of Fortune is a old book by Jeffrey Archer; well, 5 years old. It was first published in 2003.

Archer does not offer anything new in this; he seems to borrow heavily from his own writings from the past and as usual, from his own life as well. He traces the life and times of two people - twins in this case, separated at birth by a loyal, and well-meaning nurse. He has done this in the past - Kane and Abel, and First Among Equals immediately spring to mind. Nat Cartwright and Peter Cartwright are twins born to Nat's parents but Peter is stolen from his parents at the time of his birth and replaced by a dead child. Peter is given to another family, who've had a history of childlessness. From then on the two children follow the same hackneyed path to adulthood - A life spent in the top private schools, an excellent athletic/ academic record, and early entry into politics. Wait, but isn't that the story of Jeffrey Archer's own life?

As I said earlier, there is nothing new in this book, either in terms of content or in terms of style. If Mr. Acher has trouble selling this book, I am sure he can sell this story to the Mumbai Film Industry. They are bound to love it; after all, even they have been recycling the same stories over and over again.