East of Eden is a novel by American author and Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, published in September 1952.

[4] The story is primarily set in the Salinas Valley, California, between the beginning of the twentieth century and the end of World War I.

The first fourteen chapters, set in Connecticut and Massachusetts, go as far back as the American Civil War and serve as backstory for Adam Trask, his brother Charles, their father Cyrus, and Cathy Ames.

In the beginning of East of Eden, before introducing his characters, Steinbeck carefully establishes the setting with a description of the Salinas Valley in Central California.

Cathy gives birth to twin boys, shoots Adam in the shoulder after convincing him to unlock the bedroom door, and flees.

His Chinese-American servant, Lee, and his neighbor, the inventive Irish immigrant Samuel Hamilton, rouse Adam out of it enough for him to name his sons Aaron and Caleb, after biblical characters.

Lee becomes a good friend and adopted family member and has long philosophical talks with Adam and Samuel, particularly about the story of Cain and Abel.

Maintaining that it has been imperfectly translated in English-language bibles, Lee tells how his relatives in San Francisco, a group of Chinese scholars, spent two years studying Hebrew so that they might discover the moral of the Cain and Abel story.

She makes her new brothel infamous as a den of sexual sadism and a source of blackmail on the rich and powerful of Salinas Valley.

Adam's sons, Caleb ("Cal") and Aaron ("Aron") – echoing Cain and Abel – grow up oblivious of their mother's situation.

As the boys reach the end of their school days, Cal decides to pursue a career in farming, and Aron goes to college to become an Episcopal priest.

Cal, restless and tortured by guilt about his very human failings, shuns everyone around him and takes to wandering around town late at night.

Cal's plan is to earn his father's approval and his money back by capitalizing on World War I and selling beans grown in the Salinas Valley to nations in Europe for a considerable profit.

Rather than let Aron steal the moment, Cal gives Adam the money at dinner, expecting his father to be proud of him.

The book explores themes of depravity, beneficence, love, the struggle for acceptance and greatness, the capacity for self-destruction, and of guilt and freedom.

It is unclear, however, whether Noah's wife (or his sons' wives) were descended from Seth, Cain, or other of Adam and Eve's children.

[13] Upon the release of East of Eden in September 1952, the general reading public took it to heart and quickly propelled it to the number one spot on the fiction best-seller list.

East of Eden became an instant bestseller in November 1952, a month after it was released, and is now considered one of Steinbeck's finest achievements[citation needed].