House of Literature // Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Book Poster

Last month I finished reading this book: The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett. My friend Val, recommended it to me, as she is herself an avid reader and lover of great writing like me. Then before I could get it for myself, she bought it for me before I left for Memphis! I started reading it there and finished it in March. [P.S. You can read more about my Memphis trip here.] 

It is not a particularly light read. The book is 973 pages long and is a very long story with multiple main characters and deep development of each one. I love books like this because I can just dive in and know that I will be entertained for quite a long time. 

The book was copyrighted by Ken Follett in 1989. He is an English writer and is quite famous for his thriller novels in Great Britain. I wanted to write here a little portion of what he wrote in his preface, when describing how unusual it was for him to write this book. I found it fascinating, so here it is:

"Nothing happens the way you plan it. A lot of people were surprised by The Pillars of the Earth, including me. I was known as a thriller writer. In the book business, when you have had success, the smart thing to do is write the same sort of thing once a year for the rest of your life. Clowns should not try to play Hamlet; pop starts should not write symphonies. I should not have risked my reputation by writing something out of character and overambitious.

What's more, I don't believe in God. I'm not what you would call a spiritual person. According to my agent, my greatest problem as a writer is that I'm not a tortured soul. The last thing anyone would have expected from me was a story about building a church. So Pillars was an unlikely book for me to write--and I almost didn't. I started it, then dropped it, and did not look at it again for ten years." 

[Pulled from his Preface, Page 3 of Pillars]

I don't want to tell you too much about the story but it is the history behind a cathedral being built in Kingsbridge, England between the years of 1123-1174. Many characters and their life stories are developed in and around this village where the cathedral is built, some having helped build it and some are just associated because they live near it. There are battles, romances, villains, knights, kings, rebellions, and of course priests. 

As a Christian myself, I am very critical of how 'Christian' characters are developed in books. I was very impressed by how Follett captured the spirit of the main monk who spearheaded the building of the cathedral, seeing how Follett had previously described himself as not believing in God or being a spiritual person. You can tell he did extensive research in understanding how these religious men think and respond to difficult situations because he wrote this character very well. Follett also did extensive architectural research, proven by the fact that he could describe in detail the measurements and strategies of building a very complicated structure. A structure that is not built the same way anymore. 

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in historical fiction, architecture, the priesthood, politics, or just great writing. I absolutely loved it!

If you are interested, you can click on the image below to learn more about it:

Thanks for reading and if you have any great book finds you want to share, let me know in the comments below!