Two families in California's Salinas Valley, across three generations, reenact the story of Cain and Abel. Steinbeck considered this his masterpiece, his attempt to capture his home valley and the human condition simultaneously. The prose is deliberately biblical, the symbolism overt, the philosophy centered on the Hebrew word timshel: thou mayest. Critics were divided; readers loved it. The novel contains Steinbeck's wisest reflections on good and evil, on the possibility of choice, on the American promise. It is flawed and ambitious and unforgettable.