The Pillars of the Earth
- 1088 pages
- 39 hours of reading
Set in twelfth-century England, this epic of kings and peasants juxtaposes the building of a magnificent church with the violence and treachery that often characterized the Middle Ages.
The Pillars of the Earth Series
This historical series is set in medieval England and follows the fates of several families trying to survive and thrive in turbulent times. The story revolves around the construction of a cathedral and the political intrigues that affect the characters' lives. Readers can look forward to rich historical details, dramatic twists, and strong emotional moments. This series is a celebration of human resilience and ambition.
Recommended Reading Order
World Without End
- 1264 pages
- 45 hours of reading
On the day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a thief, a bully, a boy genius and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed.As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambition, love, greed and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world but come home in the end; the other will be a powerful, corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the long shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day.Ken Follett's masterful epic The Pillars of the Earth enchanted millions of readers with its compelling drama of war, passion and family conflict set around the building of a cathedral. World Without End takes readers back to medieval Kingsbridge two centuries later, as the men, women and children of the city once again grapple with the devastating sweep of historical change.World Without End is followed by the third of Ken Follett's Kingsbridge novels, A Column of Fire.
A Column of Fire
- 928 pages
- 33 hours of reading
In 1558, Kingsbridge Cathedral witnesses a city divided by religious conflict as England's power shifts between Catholics and Protestants. Amidst this turmoil, Ned Willard aspires to marry Margery Fitzgerald, but their love is tested when they find themselves on opposing sides of the conflict. Ned joins Princess Elizabeth's service, and when she ascends to the throne, England faces hostility from all of Europe. Determined to protect her reign, Elizabeth establishes the first secret service to thwart assassination plots and invasions. Over the next fifty years, Ned and Margery's love appears doomed as extremism leads to violence across the continent. Elizabeth's commitment to her principles is upheld by a small group of spies and agents who navigate the treacherous landscape. The true conflict lies not in the rival religions but between those who champion tolerance and those who impose their beliefs by force. Set against a backdrop of revolutionary change, this narrative is one of Ken Follett's most ambitious works, captivating both long-time fans and newcomers alike.
The grand master of gripping fiction is back. International No.1 bestseller Ken Follett returns to Kingsbridge with an epic tale of revolution and a cast of unforgettable characters.Revolution is in the air1792. A tyrannical government is determined to make England a mighty commercial empire. In France, Napoleon Bonaparte begins his rise to power, and with dissent rife, France’s neighbours are on high alert.Kingsbridge is on the edgeUnprecedented industrial change sweeps the land, making the lives of the workers in Kingbridge’s prosperous cloth mills a misery. Rampant modernization and dangerous new machinery are rendering jobs obsolete and tearing families apart.Tyranny is on the horizonNow, as international conflict nears, a story of a small group of Kingsbridge people - including spinner Sal Clitheroe, weaver David Shoveller and Kit, Sal’s inventive and headstrong son - will come to define the struggle of a generation as they seek enlightenment and fight for a future free from oppression. . .Taking the reader straight into the heart of history with the fifth novel in the ground-breaking Kingsbridge series, The Armour of Light is master storyteller Ken Follett’s most ambitious novel to date.
Related books
A Time of Conflict: it is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages, and England faces attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Life is hard, and those with power wield it harshly, bending justice according to their will - often in conflict with the king. With his grip on the country fragile and with no clear rule of law, chaos and bloodshed reign.Three Lives Intertwined: into this uncertain world three people come to the fore: a young boatbuilder, who dreams of a better future when a devastating Viking raid shatters the life that he and the woman he loves hoped for; a Norman noblewoman, who follows her beloved husband across the sea to a new land only to find her life there shockingly different; and a capable monk at Shiring Abbey, who dreams of transforming his humble abbey into a centre of learning admired throughout Europe. The Dawn of a New Age: now, with England at the dawn of the Middle Ages, these three people will each come into dangerous conflict with a ruthless bishop, who will do anything to increase his wealth and power, in an epic tale of ambition and rivalry, death and birth, and love and hate