East of Eden

East of Eden is a novel by John Steinbeck, published in September 1952. It is the story of a family which immigrates from the Midwest to California's Salinas Valley in the midst of the 19th century Gold Rush. The book was later adapted for film, first in 1955 and then again in 1981.

The novel is constructed around a re-creation of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, as woven into a history of California's Salinas Valley. Steinbeck intended to write a history of California from its settlement by Spanish colonists to modern times, but midway through writing the novel he shifted his focus to the Salinas Valley during and after World War I.