In one of the greatest classics there is, Ken Follett introduces us to the tenebrous Middle Ages (England, 1123-1173). The story starts off with a traditional hanging. Witnessing the execution of the young
bard, a pregnant girl with peculiar eyes curses the authorities responsible for this sentence. Only after 1150 pages do we learn that the bard is executed because he has coincidentally gotten wind of the plotting of a regicide.
First and foremost, however, the story deals with the life of the brilliant stone cutter Tom Builder, his family and most of all, his ardent dream to construct a cathedral. His first wife Agnes dies in a harsh winter shortly after her childbirth afield. Attempting to save his wife, Tom meets the witch
Ellen, the weird-eyed girl we have already encountered at the hanging. Tom with his children and Hellen with her son Jack form a rather strange and incompatible family. Finally, Ellen leaves Tom for the sake of her son, whom Tom's son Alfred constantly flogs and chicanes.
Yet another storyline features Aliena and her brother Richard, who are expelled from their paternal castle because of their
father's high treason and who suffer maltreatment Aliena's rejected admirer William Hamleigh. Bound by the promise she made on her father's deathbed, Aliena desperately struggles to restore all of Richard's property. She even tries to resist her love of Ellen's son Jack, hoping that her marriage with Alfred will help Richard acquire money and a new reputation.
It is only after Tom's murder, alas, that Jack, aided by the diplomatic skills of the prior of Kingsbirdge's, succeds in erecting a new cathedral and finally realizes Tom's dream.
Ken Follett not only writes about the stark reality of times gone by. Issues such as justice and revenge feature highly in this monumental tome. In a nice catch-all happy ending, Richard gets his property, Jack Aliena and William Hamleigh his punishment: he is hanged from the very gallows his father used to execute the bard Jack.
In this epoch-making work, Ken Follett outlines the better part of England's history, interweaves it with a compelling plot and fascinating, real-life characters and thus renders this book a worthwhile and extemely vivacious history lesson.
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