Kane and Abel characters

Appears from the start

The only son of a wealthy Boston banking family, born with a famous name and an inheritance already waiting for him. Serious, disciplined, and exceptionally gifted with figures, he is trained from childhood to regard stewardship of the family fortune and leadership in American banking as duties rather than privileges.

Appears from the start

A Polish boy born into extreme poverty on the same day as William Kane. Raised as Wladek Koskiewicz, he is small, fiercely intelligent, and unwilling to accept the place assigned to him. War and political violence repeatedly strip away his security, but his aptitude for languages, business, and survival gives him the means to begin again.

Appears from the start

William's father and the head of the Kane banking family. His position establishes the professional tradition and demanding standard that William is expected to inherit.

First appears in chapter 3

William's mother, a wealthy Boston widow after her husband's early death. She loves her son but is vulnerable to attention from a charming man whose ambitions William distrusts.

First appears in chapter 7

The Polish aristocrat in whose castle Wladek is educated alongside the baron's son. Impressed by the boy's mind and bearing, he takes a personal interest in Wladek and brings him into a world far removed from the poverty of his early childhood.

First appears in chapter 12

A socially polished opportunist who courts Anne Kane. William sees inconsistencies behind Osborne's charm and regards him with suspicion, but Osborne is skilled at presenting himself as a respectable companion and public man.

First appears in chapter 18

A fellow Polish immigrant who becomes Wladek's loyal friend in the United States. George shares the practical labor of building a life in a new country and remains one of the few people whose friendship is not based on Wladek's later wealth.

First appears in chapter 20

A hotel owner who recognizes the immigrant Wladek's ability and gives him a route into the American hotel business. Leroy becomes an employer and mentor, teaching him the industry in which he intends to make his fortune.

First appears in chapter 22

The woman William loves and marries. Warm, perceptive, and less governed by banking tradition than her husband, Kate gives William a family life apart from the institution that otherwise commands most of his loyalty.

First appears in chapter 23

A Polish American woman who marries Wladek after his rise in the hotel trade. She shares the immigrant background from which he is trying to build a secure American family.

First appears in chapter 35

Abel Rosnovski's daughter, named for a beloved figure from his Polish past. She grows up amid the wealth created by his hotel empire but has an independent ambition and judgment that do not always fit her father's plans.

First appears in chapter 35

William and Kate Kane's son. He inherits the expectations attached to the Kane name but is more willing than his father to choose a life across the boundaries created by the older generation.