A Review of The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

What happens when an author of best-selling suspense thrillers writes about a Gothic cathedral in twelfth century England? He pens a hard-to-put-down, gripping historical novel, and that's exactly what Ken Follett did with "The Pillars of the Earth."

I knew Follett's writing from his smash-hit "Eye of the Needle," published in 1979, about a German spy sent to assassinate Winston Churchill during World War Two. The book was recommended to me by my brother when I was a teenager, and I had a great time reading it. The novel was so successful it was made into a film.

My interest in "The Pillars of the Earth" was piqued when I read an interview Follett gave regarding his latest book, "World Without End." He said he wrote the novel because he had been getting so much positive feedback from readers of "Pillars" that he wanted to prove that he could "do it again." People had been coming up to him and saying things like, "This is the best book I've ever read."

I'm a lover of historical novels and was curious as to how Follett would approach the genre. To my surprise, he made twelfth century England as exciting as World War Two-era Europe. Like "Eye of the Needle," "Pillars" is chock full of suspense, making it difficult to stop reading once you reach the end of a chapter. The story covers the historical period 1123 to 1174 A.D. This was a contentious time in English history, when the country was racked by civil war, with contenders to the throne fighting to succeed Henry I.

But the novel is not about the civil war and succession itself, it's about a cathedral being built in a town called Kingsbridge, and certain fictional characters that are involved with or are affected by its construction. These include a stone mason, a prior, the daughter of an earl, and an upstart member of the gentry who wants the earldom. Follett fills the book with all sorts of day-to-day, mundane details that bring the characters to life and make you feel like you're there, walking the mud-choked roads with the dispossessed, sweating with the masons as they carve stone, eating with the greedy usurper as he hatches his fiendish plots.

"Pillars" bears comparison to two books: "Sarum," by Edward Rutherford, which is about the town of Salisbury, from it's founding to the present day; and "When Christ and His Saints Slept," by Sharon Kay Penman, which covers roughly the same time period as "Pillars," but deals with the main political figures of the time, namely Maude, Stephen and the nobles and bishops that swirled around them. "Pillars" is infinitely more readable than either of these. There are some fine stories in "Sarum," but it lacks the tautness of Follett's book. Penman's book was a bore compared to "Pillars." (I couldn't finish it.)

Don't be put off by the length of "The Pillars of the Earth." Once you start reading it you'll be so absorbed you won't care that it's almost a thousand pages long (the hardcover edition). In fact, you may rejoice in its length, as it's one of those books you just don't want to end.

(William Morrow and Company, 1989, 973 pages)