Bestselling novelist Jeffrey Archer has announced that his next novel, Adam and Eve, will be his last, marking the end of a 50-year writing career. The 85-year-old author, who has sold more than 300 million books worldwide since his debut Not a Penny More Not a Penny Less in 1976, said the decision came as he realised he could never surpass the scope of his final work.
Published by HarperCollins, Adam and Eve is described as “a powerful story which weaves together love, betrayal and the stark realities of a world at war”. Archer said the idea came to him a few years ago and required more demanding research than anything he had tackled before. “When I finally sat down to write Adam and Eve I also realised, by the end of the first draft, that this was going to be my final novel,” he said in a statement.
Archer’s biggest hit remains Kane and Abel (1979), which sold more than 34 million copies in 119 countries and 47 languages. Despite his commercial success, his work has often been criticised. In 2009, Robert McCrum wrote that opening one of his books risked “being assaulted by a hectic claque of cliche, mixed metaphor, implausibility, solecism and sheer, unadulterated stodginess”.
Archer’s literary career has been overshadowed by a colourful public life. He was a Conservative MP at 29, resigned in 1974 after losing his savings in a fraud, and later faced a libel trial over a sex worker allegation. In 2001, he was sentenced to four years in prison for perjury and perverting the course of justice, during which he wrote bestselling prison memoirs. He was released after two years and continued writing and charity work until his retirement from the House of Lords in 2024.
Archer said he might continue writing short stories, but added: “I can think of no more fitting way to bring my novel-writing career to a close.” Adam and Eve will be published in English in October.
