Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780688046590
Edition: 1st
ISBN: 0688046592
Label: William Morrow
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: William Morrow
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 973
Publication Date: 1989-09-07
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: 1989-09-07
Studio: William Morrow

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.

At once a sensuous and endearing love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age, The Pillars of the Earth is without a doubt Ken Follett's masterpiece.

Customer Rating:
Summary: A roller coaster of a book!
Comment: When my hairstylist recommended this book, my interest was piqued. When my sister recommended the book after she read it in her book club-I decided to order it. WOW! I am in the last section and can't wait to see how everything ties together. This book weaves all the characters together and it is captivating! I am exhausted during the day because I stay up so late at night reading this! I HIGHLY recommend this book for adult reading.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Hoping for better
Comment: Enough people had recommended, nay, shoved this book into my hands that I greatly anticipated a good read to take me through the holidays. But the first hundred pages found me thinking, right, this is the scene where she's going to have the baby. . .now she's going to die. . .and he's going to end up with the girl he was attracted to earlier. . .whoa, she shows up in the woods and has sex with him the day after his wife's death?
Please. I think Follett was concerned that people wouldn't like his historial fiction and so inserted sex and violence at formulaic spots. Don't get me wrong, I like sex and violence, but the stuff in this book would have enthralled me when I was a teenager. Maybe that's the right audience. I pulled the plug on this medieval soap opera at 100 pages.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Pillars of the Earth
Comment: I never received the book. I e=mailed the sender but she never responded. I want my money back, and if this is the way Amazon operates, I won't be ordering any more books from them. Susie Johnson

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Give it a chance
Comment: Read the first bit of this book outside the bed, somewhere where you can work at it a bit, because the base is there at the beginning. It's hard reading at first, but if you force yourself to get into it, the reward will be there further on.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Have to be interested in history
Comment: What keeps you going through this book are the historical details, the remarks about classic architecture. If that sound like you, then this is your book because all the rest--the characters etc.--are solid and professional. But, if you're not a history addict, this might run a bit long.

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