Pillars of the Earth

Although I’ve all read Ken Follett before, it was a long time before we started the blog. But, as the result of another religious discussion, I was enticed into going back and having another look at Follett. It’s a tome, a vacation read. It took me a week to finish, and it was an enjoyable week. The book has been well reviewed elsewhere, a 1989 book that became Follett’s most popular novel. He stepped out of his usual thriller genre for this very successful book. With only minor historical inaccuracies, Follett captured life in the 12^th century. The plot centered around the building of a cathedral in Kingsbridge over the lifespan of the main characters. Follett included King Stephen and Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Beckett (including his murder), but mostly this was the story of people of less high standing including peasants, outlaws, masons, and of course, the clergy and lower nobles who were vying with each other for position, power, money and influence. It’s a good book which fed my love for historical fiction. The quality of the writing was excellent. As I read the novel, I found myself thinking about how far we’ve come as a society since then, but also how little we humans have changed.