3 h 18 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 3 h 18 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when your oldest friend's happiness feels like a wound?
Abel Sánchez and Joaquín Monegro grow up together, but friendship never makes them equals. Abel becomes an admired painter, charming and at ease. Joaquín becomes a hard-working doctor who feels cheated by life. When Helena, the woman Joaquín hopes to win, chooses Abel, their rivalry takes a deeper hold.
In Abel Sánchez, Miguel de Unamuno retells the biblical story of Cain and Abel in a Spanish setting. Much of the novel unfolds through Joaquín's written confession to his daughter, Joaquina. His excuses bring you close to a hatred that work, marriage and family cannot quiet, while his wife, Antonia, tries to draw him away from it.
What you’ll discover
- A friendship under strain Follow two childhood friends whose unequal ease with life turns closeness into painful comparison.
- Envy from the inside Hear Joaquín explain his torment in a confession that exposes hatred and its excuses.
- Love caught in rivalry Meet Helena and Antonia, whose choices and loyalties become bound up with Joaquín's resentment.
- An old story reimagined Explore the Cain and Abel story through a painter, a doctor and their troubled bond.
- The limits of comfort Face the unsettling question of why work and a loving family cannot quiet Joaquín's envy.
Who will love it
For readers who love intense novels about the inner life, and anyone curious about envy, guilt and the Cain and Abel story.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Two friends who are never equals
- Helena chooses the easy man
- Fame feeds one man and poisons another
- Work, marriage and family cannot heal him
- What the old story is really about
- A confession told from inside the torment
Who’s who
- Joaquín MonegroA serious, proud doctor who cannot forgive his friend for being loved so easily, and who records his torment in a confession.
- Abel SánchezA gifted and charming painter, calm and self-satisfied, who accepts praise and affection as if they were his by right.
- HelenaThe woman Joaquín hopes to win, who instead becomes Abel's wife and so sets the old rivalry on a deeper course.
- AntoniaJoaquín's gentle and devout wife, who loves him faithfully and tries to lead him away from his hatred.
- JoaquinaJoaquín's daughter, the person to whom his written confession is addressed, and a link between the two families.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 3 h 18 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Abel Sánchez
by Miguel de Unamuno · 1917
Joaquín Monegro confesses his envy of an admired painter, as friendship turns to hatred and his family pays the price.
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In short
Abel Sánchez is a short novel by the Spanish writer Miguel de Unamuno, published in 1917. It retells the biblical story of Cain and Abel in a modern Spanish setting.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Two friends who are never equals
The novel opens with Abel Sánchez and Joaquín Monegro, who have known each other since childhood. They are close, and yet from the start they are unlike. Abel is light, charming and pleasant to be near. He does not seem to work hard at being liked. People simply turn toward him, and he accepts this as the natural order of things.
Joaquín is the opposite. He is intense, proud and always watching himself. He believes he gives more and receives less. He is the one who is loyal, who studies, who keeps his word. Yet it is Abel whom others praise, and Joaquín feels this as a daily injustice.
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What is Abel Sánchez about?
It is about the lifelong friendship and rivalry between a painter, Abel Sánchez, and a doctor, Joaquín Monegro. Joaquín is consumed by envy of his friend's ease and success, and the novel follows how that feeling shapes his whole life.
Is Abel Sánchez based on Cain and Abel?
Yes. Unamuno sets the biblical story of the first brothers in modern Spain. Joaquín takes the place of Cain, the envious one, and Abel is the favored man. The novel uses the old tale to study envy and guilt.
When was Abel Sánchez written and published?
Miguel de Unamuno published it in 1917. It is a work of fiction, not a true story, though Unamuno said it was meant to show envy as a deep and common sickness, especially in Spanish society.
The author
Miguel de Unamuno
1864–1936 · Spanish philosopher, novelist and poet
Miguel de Unamuno was a Spanish philosopher, novelist, and essayist, a leading voice of the Generation of '98 and longtime rector of the University of Salamanca. Tragic Sense of Life, his meditation on faith, reason, and mortality, remains his most influential work.
More by Miguel de Unamuno
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