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Kingsbridge #1

The Pillars of the Earth

ken follett

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Ken Follett is known worldwide as the master of split-second suspense, but his most beloved and bestselling book tells the magnificent tale of a twelfth-century monk driven to do the seemingly impossible: build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known.

Everything 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 glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, 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 brought vividly 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 the 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.

For the TV tie-in edition with the same ISBN go to this Alternate Cover Edition

976 pages, Paperback

First published October 1,1989
Series
Kingsbridge
Places
england, 

This edition

Format
976 pages, Paperback
Published
October 2, 2007 by Penguin Books
ISBN
9780451222138
ASIN
045122213X
Language
English
Characters More characters
  • Thomas Becket

    Thomas Becket

    Thomas Becket (1118 – 1170) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his death in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. He engaged in conflict with Henry II of England over the rights...

  • Henry II of England

    Henry Ii Of England

    Henry II (1133 - 1189) ruled as King of England (1154 - 1189), Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western Fr...

  • Tom Builder

    Tom Builder

    Tom is a master mason whose one dream in life is to become the master builder of a cathedral. He is married to Agnes, and his children are Alfred Builder, Martha, and Jonathan....

  • Prior Philip

    Prior Philip

    A Welshman raised in a monastery, Prior Philip continues his life by taking vows and becoming a monk himself. Hes an excellent leader, a born organizer, and has an almost inflexible sense of right and wrong.more...

  • Aliena

    Aliena

    She is the daughter of Bartholomew, the Earl of Shiring, and the intended bride of William Hamleigh....

  • Jack Jackson

    Jack Jackson

    He is the son of Jack Shareburg (Jacques Cherbourg) and Ellen; he becomes an architect and skilled stonemason....

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About the author

Profile Image for ken follett

ken follett

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Ken Follett is one of the world's most successful authors. Over 170 million copies of the 36 books he has written have been sold in over 80 countries and in 33 languages.

Born on June 5th, 1949 in Cardiff, Wales, the son of a tax inspector, Ken was educated at state schools and went on to graduate from University College, London, with an Honours degree in Philosophy – later to be made a Fellow of the College in 1995.

He started his career as a reporter, first with his hometown newspaper the South Wales Echo and then with the London Evening News. Subsequently, he worked for a small London publishing house, Everest Books, eventually becoming Deputy Managing Director.

Ken's first major success came with the publication of Eye of the Needle in 1978. A World War II thriller set in England, this book earned him the 1979 Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America. It remains one of Ken's most popular books.

In 1989, Ken's epic novel about the building of a medieval cathedral, The Pillars of the Earth, was published. It reached number one on best-seller lists everywhere and was turned into a major television series produced by Ridley Scott, which aired in 2010. World Without End, the sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, proved equally popular when it was published in 2007.

Ken's new book, The Evening and the Morning, will be published in September 2020. It is a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth and is set around the year 1,000, when Kingsbridge was an Anglo-Saxon settlement threatened by Viking invaders.

Ken has been active in numerous literacy charities and was president of Dyslexia Action for ten years. He was chair of the National Year of Reading, a joint initiative between government and businesses. He is also active in many Stevenage charities and is President of the Stevenage Community Trust and Patron of Home-Start Hertfordshire.

Ken, who loves music almost as much as he loves books, is an enthusiastic bass guitar player. He lives in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, with his wife Barbara, the former Labour Member of Parliament for Stevenage. Between them they have five children, six grandchildren and two Labradors.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 99 votes)
5 stars
35(35%)
4 stars
36(36%)
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28(28%)
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99 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
summer_zest
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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n  "The most expensive part of building is the mistakes."n

My word. I'm quite lost for words after just finishing Ken Follett's supreme piece of historical fiction, the Pillars of the Earth. Quite possibly the best book ever written about building a cathedral.

The premise of this one is not normally one that I would expect myself to gravitate toward. Set in the middle ages it centres around a group of monks striving to build a cathedral. But as with most great stories, this one is so much more, as the characters involved struggle through adversity, hardship and failure during its course.

So what makes this one great and a recipient of the legendary Dave Edmunds' five star award? Follett's writing is not exceptional. It's functional and does the job, portraying the story without being a distraction. But it lacks the flair and style of some of the more elite writers. What it excels at is a fantastic plot with a truly epic scope, spanning decades.



n  "The duck swallows the worm, the fox kills the duck, the men shoot the fox, and the devil hunts the men."n

There's a great set of characters and because you spend so much time with them you come to truly love them, or really hate them as you watch them grow up. Prior Phillip is one of my favourite literary characters, truly inspiring and selfless. An example to us all. And don't get me started on William Hamleigh, one of the most heinous and vile villains I've ever come across. I normally love a good villain, but this guy is so bad there's absolutely nothing remotely likeable about him.

The world building on display here is amazing. Follett is extremely knowledgeable and the book is a real education. I feel enriched from the experience and now know the various aspects of a cathedral. The nave, chancel and transcepts...I'm all over it.



n  "Proportion is the heart of beauty."n

The tables in this one swing back and forward constantly. Just as you think our heroes have made it they get kicked in the face and have to pick themselves up, dust themselves down and struggle on. You never truly know if they're going to make it. Which makes for compulsive reading.

So to sum things up. If you can handle a giant door stop of a book give this a read. Even if historical fiction isn't your bag. If you love a great story, then you'll love Pillars of the Earth.



Ken Follett
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Luigi_AU
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Took me a bit to get around to reading this book by one of my favorite authors and it did not disappoint. Follett creates some of the most evil characters ever in this first book of his Kingsbridge Series, and the evil follows us throughout the entire book! This is a book about the ambitious building of a Cathedral in the village of Kingsbridge which goes against the wishes of the the Earl of the region as well as the Bishop. There are a host of interesting characters in the book and we follow their comings and goings over a 50 year period. Well written, interesting and makes us appreciate how far we have come from the time of wooden houses, mud roads and mass poverty. I am not as fond of this book as others, as evidenced by the fact that it took me over a year to finish this, but nonetheless I will be soon begin working on the next book in this series.
See my full review of this book and others at www.ViewsonBooks.com
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Darkmonger
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Toward the end of this 1000 page book I noticed the ad for the equally non-descript titled SEQUEL released 17 years after Pillars. This raises a lot of questions. What kind of author leaves his fans hanging for 17 years? Can there possibly be anything left unsaid after 1000 pages? Is this why Follett looks so smug on the back cover w/his black turtleneck?

Maybe in the sequel he'll explain why he couldn't find room in the story for Martha after age 6. She was my favorite character and she got maybe 5 sentences of mention after page 300. Talk about a huge loose end.

And what was with all the raping? When the author got writer's block he must have pulled out some custom Magic 8 Ball with two possible responses: A) Rape or B) Further uncertainty regarding the King of England

The result of that Magic 8 Ball shaking is Pillars of the Earth. I don't think I'll be reading the sequel.

I should have put this book down forever when the one character marries the forest witch 2 hours after his beloved wife dies a bloody death. Looking back, that was a huge red flag.
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Jean77
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Hmmm... a family relation lent me this book. I was mostly interested in what kind of books my particular relation was into. I think you can learn a lot about a person by reading their favorite books. I am actually a little disturbed. Yes you may call me a prude, but there was sex in it. I know what your thinking... thats not a shocker. But its not just sex... it is violent sex. It has several graphic rape scenes. And I have to admit violence to women frightens me.
I don't need that graphic of an image of midevil history. I am sure events like that happened but I don't enjoy reading about them. And I was suprosed how frequently the topic came up within the book.

That being said, the plot was great but the antagonist got boring in the last third of the book. I liked the plot except for the antagonist waring on my patience. I do like complex plots such as this one... however the plot became fairly predictable at about page 600. The bad guy comes in terrorizes the good people and frustrates the building of the cathedral. then the good people rebuild and make a little progress. Then the bad guy comes again and the cycle continues. I think authors should quit while they are ahead. I love a thick book... however it should only be 1000 pages if you can be creative the whole time.

The setting provided and eye opening experience. It took a minute to get used to the midevil setting, but it I found it intriguing. I also liked how the book covered decades of time... I haven't read many books that do that. Well this is what I think. Sorry about the spelling errors.
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nolar2018
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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This is one of my top 10 favourite books of all time.
I had written a review a long time ago but it got lost.
This is a masterpiece. Don’t be overwhelmed by its size. Believe me when I say it’s a fast read. Is that engaging. I did not care for the adaptation for the TV.

Anyways, the ebook is currently on sale for $1.99 (Canadian), today, February 8, 2022.
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Sricause
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Full video review here: https://youtu.be/hk36yExrXII

In 1996 I was a junior in high school and had never read a historical fiction book. A friend of mine was reading this massive brick and I assumed it was a fantasy book. I asked him what it was and, really, he had me interested with just the title.

Trying to explain what makes this story so great is hard since most people nope out when you tell them it is about building a cathedral in 12th century Europe. That is the backdrop but there is so much more to it. Follett loves to abuse his characters and, in turn, makes you root even harder for them. If you love characters that work hard and do whatever it takes to overcome the odds, this one has a dozen you'll love and will never leave your head.

Major content warning for the weak of heart. Follett pulls no punches and even gives the main antagonist POV chapters and it is NOT pretty. But as long as you understand things were different in the world almost 900 years ago you'll be okay. This is a trip that is absolutely worth your time.
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chihaya_non
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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This is definitely not your usual Ken Follett spy thriller. I was pleasantly surprised to discover a well-written historical fiction novel which centers around one man's desire to build the greatest cathedral in England in the early medieval period. It's a great story which strikes a nice balance between history and fiction. My only complaint-- it's nearly 1,000 pages long. But well worth the time invested!

(Reviewed 8/1/08)
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