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The Pillars of the Earth

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The Pillars of the Earth

By: Ken Follett
Narrated by: Richard E Grant
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About this listen

Abridged edition, narrated by Richard E Grant (Withnail and I)

An epic, spellbinding tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, The Pillars of the Earth is Ken Follett's historical masterpiece.

A Mason with a Dream
It is 1135 and civil war, famine and religious strife abound. With his family on the verge of starvation, mason Tom Builder dreams of the day that he can use his talents to create and build a cathedral like no other.

A Monk with a Burning Mission
Philip is the church prior of Kingsbridge. A resourceful man, he knows that if his town is to survive at all, it must find a way to truly thrive. He decides, then, to build Kingsbridge the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known.

A World of High Ideals and Savage Cruelty
As the prior recruits his mason, so begins a journey of ambition, anarchy and the struggle for absolute power. Facing enemies that would thwart them, they will stop at nothing to fulfil their grand plans of Kingsbridge. Soon fester the tensions (see note on 'fester the tension') between good and evil, turning church against state, and brother against brother . . .

The Pillars of the Earth is the first in The Kingsbridge Novels series, followed by World Without End and A Column of Fire.

 Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Thriller & Suspense Middle Ages England

Critic reviews

A highly enjoyable tale . . . this book evokes its period brilliantly
A historical saga of such breadth and density . . . Follett succeeds brilliantly in combining hugeness and detail to create a novel imbued with the rawness, violence and blind faith of the era
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
All stars
Most relevant
I’ve never really listened to audiobooks or been much of a fan of them but I wanted to try to listen to books due to how little time I have in a day to read physical copies, especially because of work and other commitments. I have to say that I was really impressed by the narrator and how he read this epic.
Any critiques I have are more for the story itself, I found myself unsatisfied with the ending but on the whole I have a positive opinion of the book and the characters, which were portrayed wonderfully. I would definitely listen to the sequel!

A really enjoyable listen

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I had always meant to read this book, but never quite got around to it. The size of the volume might have had something to do with it. I even hesitated to purchase the audiobook when I saw that it required four separate downloads. However, I am really happy it did. I couldn't put it down. What a great story. It was Ken Follet's passion and it shows. Richard Grant does a fabulous job of narration. Not only is his voice a pleasure to listen to - he handles the various characters beautifully. Buy this book. You won't regret it.

Absolutely absorbing

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Wonderful story, so well delivered. Kept me glued to my headphones. Editing maybe only thing that wasn’t perfect but just a very minor thing.

Masterpiece

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This book is an amazing piece of historical fiction. It's set against the background of the civil war between the followers of King Stephen and Empress Maud (with the murder of Thomas Beckett thrown in), and follows the situations surrounding the building of Kingsbridge Cathedral.

It's a bit of an unusual book in that there's no particular hero - the book follows various people over the time from before the building of the cathedral, to after it was completed many years later.

I was a bit worried about the narration, as I'm not a fan of Richard Grant's, but he did a fantastic job. I didn't want to stop listening to this story. I'm looking forward to getting 'World Without End' (the sequel) and hope it's as good as Pillars.

If you like historical fiction, you MUST get this book!

A true masterpiece

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I did not really know what to expect but I was hooked and loved every moment of this book. I have just discovered to my joy that there are 2 further books in the series so I have downloaded them straight away! Well done Ken best book I've read/listened to in a long time!!

Unexpectedly Brilliant

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