6 h 33 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can a hidden identity conceal—and what might guilt reveal?
Andrew Lang’s The Mark of Cain is a brisk Victorian mystery of crime, secrets and suspicion. Deception, identity and justice shape its questions. What can appearances tell us? What might they hide? This is a tale for readers who enjoy uncertainty without the weight of a long, slow novel.
The title draws on the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis. According to that text, Cain kills his brother and receives a mark from God. That reference brings the idea of visible guilt into focus, inviting you to consider hidden identity and the difficult question of how justice is earned.
What you’ll discover
- Secrets and suspicion Enter a Victorian mystery where crime and deception make appearances a source of doubt.
- The question of identity Explore the tension between what can be seen and what a hidden identity conceals.
- A title with weight Consider how the Genesis reference brings guilt and recognition into the book’s central questions.
- Justice beyond appearances Follow a mystery that places justice alongside the unsettling possibilities of deception and hidden identity.
- A brisk Victorian tale Enjoy a sharp story that offers the lighter side of Victorian fiction without a lingering pace.
Who will love it
For readers who love period mysteries, tales of guilt and false appearances, and the lighter side of Victorian fiction.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Lang wrote with a scholar's wide curiosity
- The Victorian mystery loved secrets and suspicion
- The title speaks of guilt that cannot hide
- Identity and justice are the questions that matter
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- Large print hardcover
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La marque de Caïn
by Andrew Lang · 1886
A Victorian mystery turns hidden identity and visible guilt into a puzzle of trust and justice.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
Lang wrote with a scholar's wide curiosity
Andrew Lang is best remembered today for his collections of fairy tales, which gathered stories from many nations and gave them to young readers. He was also a poet, a critic, a translator of Homer and a student of myth and anthropology. That range matters when you pick up a novel by him.
He wrote fiction as a man who knew how old stories work. Tales of crime, curses and hidden shame are among the oldest kinds. A writer who had studied how people tell such stories across the world knew what makes a reader lean forward.
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Who wrote The Mark of Cain?
The Mark of Cain was written by Andrew Lang, the Scottish author, poet and folklorist who died in 1912. He is better known for his Fairy Books, but he also wrote novels, essays and many works of criticism.
What does the mark of Cain mean?
The phrase comes from Genesis, where Cain murders his brother Abel and is given a mark. It has come to mean a sign of guilt or shame that others can see, and it gives this novel its title.
What kind of book is The Mark of Cain?
It is a Victorian mystery novel. Books of this type usually feature secrets, suspicion, hidden identities and a search for the truth, and they were written to be read quickly and enjoyed as a puzzle.
The author
Andrew Lang
1844–1912 · Scottish poet and folklorist
Andrew Lang was a Scottish writer born in Selkirk in 1844. He lived in London and died in Banchory in 1912. He wrote poetry, novels, literary criticism, and works on folklore. He edited The Blue Fairy Book, published in 1889, and other fairy-book collections, including The Violet Fairy Book in 1901.
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