Ken Follett is known worldwide as the master of split-second suspense. Now, in The Pillars of the Earth, he reaches beyond the expected to achieve his most brilliant and remarkable novel.
Everything his readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time - the twelfth century; the place -feudal England and the subject-the building of
a Gothic cathedral. The author has recreated the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages-in every detail. The forests, the walled town, the castles and the monasteries become a familiar landscape. Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters - into their dreams, their labors and
their loves: Tom, the master builder,- Aliena
the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman,-
Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge,- Jack, the
artist in stone,- and Ellen, the woman of the
forest who casts a terrifying curse. From
humble stonemason to imperious monarch,
each character is vividly brought to life.
The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama.
Around the site of this construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.
At once a sensuous and enduring love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age, The Pillars of the Earth is without doubt Ken Follett's masterpiece.
