The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known . . . of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect – a man divided in his soul . . . of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame . . . and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, and brother against brother.

A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, this is Ken Follett’s historical masterpiece.

‘Enormous and brilliant . . . this mammoth tale seems to touch all human emotion – love and hate, loyalty and treachery, hope and despair. This is truly a novel to get lost in’

This is the first one of Ken Follett’s books I’ve read and it’s a mammoth of a book. 1200 pages is set to stand near The Stand by Stephen King (2020 Edition) and The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss . It is an epic saga which was also turned into a TV Miniseries by Prime.

“The most expensive part of building is the mistakes.” 

And this book is full of building. A cathedral to be more honest, a life, second. The characters are diverse and some you love to hate and some you cheer for. Some are praiseworthy, some are despicable.

Trigger Warning: book contains scenes of rape, body mutilations, animal abuse and will make you deeply despise William Hamleigh with a ferocious passion. It turns out that a deep, seething hatred can really keep you turning pages, waiting for that bastard to get what he rightly deserves.

The story follows a builder called Tom and in the olden times, a person’s surname was the same as their profession. So Tom Builder, his son Alfred, his daughter Martha, his pregnant wife – they all are travelling on the backroads of Southern England after being let go of his house construction work. His previous employer, lord Hamleigh, has had his engagement broken off and he fired everyone working on his future wife.

Little does Tom know but his and the young lord’s destiny are well entwined and they will meet and clash many times into the future.

His pregnant wife dies after giving birth in the midst of winter and he abandons the young’un to the elements to die as he can barely feed his remaining offspring. At least he manages to bury her in the frozen ground so she won’t fall prey to the animals.

Little does he know is that the babe is found by a travelling monk en route to see his brother, Phillip. He takes the boy with him and he dedicates young Jonathan to the monastic life. Phillip is a mere monk ruling wisely a small monk holding and he has aspirations of becoming the new prior of Kingsbridge.

William Hamleigh, the young blighted lord, plans an attack on his previous future in-laws’ place after having news that the king Stuart has landed in England. His attack is successful and his father is named the new Earl. Previous earl and his ex-fiancee are left destitute and this asshole takes advantage of the change in power to go to their houses in the middle of the night and rape the young girl and make her younger brother watch. It was insanely difficult to read through those pages.

Hurting girl and her younger brother manage to escape on the two war horses of their attackers and they learn how ruthless the world out there is for orphans. She promises her father (in the gaol) that she’ll help her brother be the true earl again and makes it her life mission to gather money – becoming a fleece vendor. She gets unexpected aid from the new prior – Philip – who purchases her wool every season at a good price until she is old enough to make her own connections.

Through her wits and wiles, she manages to become a good merchant and finance her brother’s knighthood. She buys him war horses, swords, shields and armour. Everything he needs – without a word of thanks. He feels a bit entitled when he comes back home, expecting not to do any work and let his sister take care of his needs.

The last participants in this epic are a wilful woman of the forest called Ellen – gorgeous with golden eyes and a red-haired son she had with her previous boyfriend. Out of wedlock and he was hanged for stealing a golden cup – a framed crime he was innocent of. Ellen and her son are an odd pair but she falls for Tom – the widow builder – and they both create a blended family of sorts.

Then the Knightsbridge cathedral starts being built – financed by Philip and having building difficulties at every step of the way. The stone quarry they were once granted access to by the king was guarded. The markets they ran to help build it was unlicenced and shut down bloodily by the new William earl. The town was burned to the ground once.

They had to build fortifications overnight when another attack by the earl was predicted.

William is blood-thirsty and is vile. He rapes women on his land and takes great pleasure beating his new 14-year old wife and then taking advantage of her. He’s a pedo and a sadist.

Tom Builder dies trying to defend the life of his third child (Jonathan – who came with Phillip to the new priory). Ellen is shunned back into the forest. Her son, the smart red-haired boy called Jack – falls in love with the lovely wool – merchant lady but due to the age difference and maturity levels, they only get truly together on the night before the wedding to his step brother Alfred, where he gets her pregnant.

I loved her search for him, just like the old fairytales where the woman searches for her husband barefoot in another land, carrying her babe with her.

Once back together in England, they bring the Weeping Mary statue from Spain to grant the new cathedral a miracle-bearing gift and to make it more famous. With additional knowledge from France, Jack sets off to build something fantastic – an architectural masterpiece that would make the cathedral the new religious hotspot and increase the amounts of people hating on Philip’s state.

I loved the book. I can’t wait to read the second book in the series, World Without End.

“You never know,” Jack said speculatively. “There may come a time when savages like William Hamleigh aren’t in power; when the laws protect the ordinary people instead of enslaving them; when the king makes peace instead of war. Think of that – a time when towns in England don’t need walls!”