Book info

• Title The Pillars of the Earth
• Author Ken Follett
• Year 1989
• Genre Historical

A Mason with a Dream. It is 1135 and civil war, famine and religious strife abound. With his family on the verge of starvation, mason Tom Builder dreams of the day that he can use his talents to create and build a cathedral like no other. A Monk with a Burning Mission. Philip is the church prior of Kingsbridge. A resourceful man, he knows that if his town is to survive at all, it must find a way to truly thrive. He decides, then, to build Kingsbridge the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known. A World of High Ideals and Savage Cruelty. As the prior recruits his mason, so begins a journey of ambition, anarchy and the struggle for absolute power. Facing enemies that would thwart them, they will stop at nothing to fulfil their grand plans of Kingsbridge. Soon build tensions between good and evil, turning church against state, and brother against brother...

Thoughts

I’ve read this one before, a long time ago, and I loved it as much this time as I did back then. The reason I picked this up was that I managed to get my hands on a copy of the sequel - World Without End. I want to read that one but thought I’d refresh my memory of the original. Although they are standalone books, it was good to remind myself of the style of writing, and the sort of time in history we’re talking about.

The best thing about this book is how the characters weave in and out of each other’s lives. They are inexplicably interlinked, and from the very first moment - which seems abstract to start with but gradually begins to make sense - you’re going to follow them all the way.

The second best thing about this book is just how easy it is to read. It’s one of those books that is a page-turner, and although it looks terribly scary - a huge thick novel reminiscent of War and Peace, it doesn’t take long to read. Part of that must be because they were simpler times back then and the descriptions are made simple to match. I must admit to skim-reading a lot of the cathedral building talk - I am not destined to be a master-builder, clearly. However, it was not a blight on what is an excellent book that stands both the test of time and the test of re-reading.

Revisited - Sep 2023

I seem to always want to re-read this when I’m about to read another in the series, and that’s not an easy task because these books are so huge. But re-read it I did and I loved it just as much as every other time. There’s something about the simplicity of the text alongside the complexity of such a sprawling plot and timeline that hooks you in and doesn’t let go. I know, intellectually, that these books don’t have much in common other than the place and some vague ancestor mentions, but it still feels right to have reminded myself of the originals before moving on.

Rating: 5 / 5