After killing his brother Abel Cain must wander for ever He witnesses Noah's ark the destruction of the Tower of Babel Moses & the golden calf He is there in time to save Abraham from sacrificing Isaac when God's angel arrives late after a wing malfunction Written in the last years of Saramago's life Cain wittily tackles many of the moral & logical non sequiturs created by a wilful authoritarain God forming part of Saramago's long argument with God & recalling his provocative novel The Gospel According to Jesus Christ