2018 Jan 6
On the day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a thief, a bully, a boy genius and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed.
As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambition, love, greed and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world but come home in the end; the other will be a powerful, corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the long shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day.
Follett’s bestselling second novel in the Kingsbridge series is set two hundred years later with Pillars of the Earth’s descendants to give us another richly detailed read. Follett skillfully intertwines the lives of the four children, as they grow into adults, with the lives of the Kingsbridge folk against the backdrop of the Black Death and the war against the French.
While a certainly long read, despite Follett’s time jumps, he certainly makes it a novel worth your time. This is a book that has its fair share of betrayals, appalling offenses, romance and politics all skillfully combined together, resulting in a gripping read. Despite being a sequel, it can also be read on its own and is perfect for any lover of historical drama.
Rating: 4/5
