East of Eden, by John Steinbeck

East of Eden
 
The masterpiece of Steinbeck’s later years, East of Eden is a sprawling epic in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love’s absence.

East of Eden is a novel by Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, published in September 1952. Often described as Steinbeck's most ambitious novel, East of Eden brings to life the intricate details of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, and their interwoven stories.

Steinbeck wrote to a friend after completing his manuscript, "I finished my book a week ago. [...] Much the longest and surely the most difficult work I have ever done... I have put all the things I have wanted to write all my life. This is "the book." If it is not good I have fooled myself all the time. I don't mean I will stop but this is a definite milestone and I feel released. Having done this I can do anything I want. Always I had this book waiting to be written.

Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 for Grapes of Wrath.