Where to Start with Ken Follett: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Ken Follett — whether to begin with The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, or Fall of Giants. A complete reading guide to his best novels.
Ken Follett (born 1949) is the Welsh novelist who became one of the bestselling authors in the world with The Pillars of the Earth (1989), his novel about the building of a Gothic cathedral in medieval England that has sold more than twenty million copies and is consistently described by readers as the most immersive historical novel they have ever encountered. He began as a thriller writer and the pacing and plotting instincts of that form inform all his historical fiction: his medieval and twentieth-century epics are long but never slow, structured with the narrative drive of thrillers and populated with characters whose personal dramas are inseparable from the historical conflicts that surround them.
Where to Start: The Pillars of the Earth (1989)
The essential Follett — and the novel that turned a thriller writer into a historical novelist of the first rank. Set in twelfth-century England during the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Maud, the novel follows the construction of a Gothic cathedral in Kingsbridge across forty years. Tom Builder, who has dreamed all his life of building a cathedral; Prior Philip, the Welshman who manages the Kingsbridge monastery; Ellen the forest woman; Jack the builder who will surpass his stepfather; and the villainous William Hamleigh, who uses the civil war to exercise his cruelty — these are the main figures in a narrative that is simultaneously about medieval architecture and politics, religious devotion and secular ambition, love and revenge.
The novel is very long (around 1,000 pages) and the pages turn of their own accord. Follett researched medieval cathedral building exhaustively; the technical information is never dry because it is always attached to the human drama of building something enormous without modern tools, under constant threat of political and religious interference.
World Without End (2007)
The sequel set in the same town two centuries later — during the fourteenth century and the Black Death. Kingsbridge now has a cathedral (the one built in The Pillars of the Earth) and a new set of citizens: Merthin, a young builder of extraordinary talent; Caris, the merchant’s daughter who becomes a nun and a physician; Godwyn, the ruthless monk who seeks control of the priory; and Philemon, his devious assistant. The Black Death arrives in the novel’s second half and transforms everything.
As long as The Pillars of the Earth and nearly as compelling; the best choice for readers who want to return to Kingsbridge after the first novel.
Fall of Giants (2010)
The first volume of Follett’s Century Trilogy — covering the years from 1911 to 1924, including the First World War and the Russian Revolution. Five interconnected families from different countries — the Welsh miners Billy and Ethel Williams; the aristocratic Fitzherbert family; the American Dewar brothers; the German von Ulrich family; and the Russian brothers Grigori and Lev Peshkov — experience the cataclysm of the First World War from their different national perspectives. Follett follows each family through the war, the Russian Revolution, the peace negotiations, and the early years of the interwar period.
His most ambitious historical project and the most politically comprehensive of his novels; the best entry to the Century Trilogy.
A Column of Fire (2017)
The third Kingsbridge novel — set in the sixteenth century, during the Reformation and the conflicts between Protestants and Catholics across Europe. Ned Willard, a young man from Kingsbridge, becomes an agent for Elizabeth I and spends his life in the service of religious tolerance against the fanaticism of both sides. The novel ranges across England, France, the Netherlands, and Spain, tracing the religious wars that transformed Europe.
Less intimate than The Pillars of the Earth but equally well-researched; his most geographically ambitious novel.
Reading Ken Follett
Follett’s fiction is distinguished by its commitment to the full scale of history — the political, religious, military, and economic forces that shaped the eras he depicts — rendered through the personal stories of characters who are fully drawn enough to sustain narratives of five hundred to a thousand pages. His villains are genuinely threatening, his heroes are genuinely capable of growth, and his research is extensive enough that reading his novels is genuinely educational. Begin with The Pillars of the Earth — it is the most addictive novel in his catalog and the best demonstration of why historical fiction at its finest is one of the most satisfying forms of reading.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Ken Follett?
The Pillars of the Earth (1989) is the essential starting point — the novel that made Follett famous and that readers consistently describe as the most immersive historical novel they have ever read. Set in twelfth-century England during the civil war known as the Anarchy, it follows the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge across several decades. Follett weaves together the stories of builders, monks, nobles, and outcasts in a narrative that makes medieval architecture feel as thrilling as a thriller. It is his most beloved novel and the most complete demonstration of his gifts. Fall of Giants is the best alternative for readers who want Follett's most recent major work, covering the First World War era.
What is The Pillars of the Earth about?
The Pillars of the Earth (1989) is set in twelfth-century England, during the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Maud, and follows the building of a Gothic cathedral in the fictional Kingsbridge monastery. The main characters include Tom Builder, a master builder who dreams of building a cathedral; Ellen, a forest woman; Prior Philip, the monk who manages the monastery; and Jack, Tom's stepson, who will become the greatest builder of his era. The novel traces decades of construction, religious politics, and personal drama — wars, loves, treacheries, and the slow rise of a building that becomes the symbol of a community's identity. One of the most addictive novels ever written.
What is the Kingsbridge series?
The Kingsbridge series consists of The Pillars of the Earth (1989), set in the twelfth century; World Without End (2007), set in the fourteenth century in the same town but with new characters; A Column of Fire (2017), set in the sixteenth century during the Reformation; and The Evening and the Morning (2020, a prequel set in the tenth century). Each novel is set in Kingsbridge across different centuries and shares the town as its central character rather than the people, who are new in each book. They can be read in any order, but The Pillars of the Earth is the natural starting point.
What is the Century Trilogy?
The Century Trilogy consists of Fall of Giants (2010, covering the First World War and the Russian Revolution), Winter of the World (2012, covering the Second World War), and Edge of Eternity (2014, covering the Cold War from the 1960s to the fall of the Berlin Wall). The trilogy follows five interconnected families from different countries — American, English, Welsh, German, and Russian — across the twentieth century, tracing how the great historical events of the era shaped ordinary lives. Fall of Giants is the best entry to the trilogy, which should be read in order.
