Ken Follett - "The Pillars of the Earth"

Can a cathedral be the inspirational hero of a novel? Perhaps, if not the hero itself, it can be the setting that frames the lives of several heroes.

Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth chronicles the lives of three generations of men and women who helped build a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge in 12^th century England, during the first 100 years following the Norman Conquest.

Tom, the skilled, but unemployed master builder, penniless and starving with his family wandering the countryside looking for work, obtains the commission to build the cathedral.

Aliana, the daughter of an earl who is dispossessed of his estates during the Anarchy - the civil war that raged between King Stephen and his challenger for the throne, King Henry the Second – survives rape and inspires others by her fierce independence.

Jack, a precocious but wild boy who grows up as an outlaw in the forests, becomes the master builder and continues the cathedral following the killing of Tom.

Ellen, the beautiful, wild woman of the forest (Jack’s mother) whom the monks believe is a witch, holds the other characters together despite her disdain for all ecclesiastic rules.

Phillip, the Prior of Kingsbridge Monastery, ties all of the characters together, and, if anyone, is the central hero.

Nathaniel, Tom’s son, is abandoned when his mother dies during childbirth, starving by the side of the road. He is rescued by Prior Phillip and eventually becomes Prior of Kingsbridge when Phillip is elevated to Bishop.

Although these individuals all exhibit a deep love for humanity – each in a unique way – they appear real through their individual weaknesses and foibles as they struggle against the lawlessness of the Anarchy in which royal, civil, and ecclesiastic leaders wield unrestrained power while contesting each other for total control over the lives of the ordinary citizenry.

The characters interact with various points in history, including the battle in Lincoln, the struggle between King Henry II and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Thomas Becket’s murder.

Through all their trials and triumphs – the Cathedral is eventually built, and Aliana is restored to her father’s property – the characters in this novel have the unique ability to create an atmosphere which inspires the reader’s spirit as well as entertains the mind.

More information about Ken Follett and “The Pillars of the Earth” may be found on his web site at www.ken-follett.com/