The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, is the first of a trilogy set in medieval times. This book spans 1123 to 1155. Tom Builder is a master mason struggling to find work. As he and his young family travel the country looking for a job, his wife tragically dies during childbirth. Knowing he cannot look after the baby, he leaves it to die, but very soon regrets his decision and returns to the spot to retrieve it, only to discover it has gone. He finds comfort with a woman who has been living in the forest with her own child, Jack, and she goes with Tom and his two children to Kingsbridge. Unbeknownst to him, his baby had been rescued by a passing monk, and was taken to Philip, the prior at the monastery, who decides to raise the boy himself. When the cathedral at Kingsbridge is destroyed by fire, Philip hires Tom to rebuild it. Meanwhile, brother and sister, Aliena and Richard, suddenly find themselves homeless after supreme baddy William Hamleigh takes over their father's castle (and, in effect, his earldom) and rapes Aliena. Upon their escape, Aliena supports her brother and becomes a canny business woman, only to lose it all at the hands of William. With the passing years, Aliena and Jack grow close and finally fall in love despite many missteps and misunderstandings along the way. Jack inherits his stepfather's love of building and, when Tom is tragically killed, becomes a master builder in his own right. This all happens against the backdrop of political intrigue and unrest as King Stephen and Maud are battling over the kingdom. Plus, the general nastiness of the power-hungry Hamleigh family is a constant threat to Philip and Aliena. There is plenty of action and the plots come thick and fast. It's a mixture of architecture (flying buttresses anyone?), politics, religion and family trials and tribulations. There are way more bad times than good, but it's the little victories that keep you going. There are some grim and violent scenes, and this certainly won't be to everyone's taste. But if you like your historical fiction to be full of intrigue, where the baddies really are baddies and the setting isn't during the well-worn Tudor period, then this could be for you. As if the trilogy weren't enough, he's also just finished a prequel! Many hours of reading to come I fear!
My STAR rating: FOUR.
Length: 1076 print pages.
Price I paid: 50p (in a second hand bookshop).
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, audio CD, ebook.
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