The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

How do you describe a book like The Pillars of the Earth and not confuse your reader, since it is well over 900 pages long, set in the Middle Ages, and has numerous characters and several subplots? The author's website does a pretty good job, " In a time of civil war, famine and religious strife, a magnificent cathedral is built in Kingsbridge ... this is a sensuous and enduring love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age."

There are a handful of main characters: first there are two brothers orphaned as young boys and taken in by a monastery--Philip and Francis. There is a master builder and his family: Tom, Agnes, and their children Martha and Alfred. There is a mysterious and strangely beautiful young woman who lives in the woods with her son Jack. There is also a knight, a monk and a priest--all corrupted by greed, a shared secret, and a shared curse.

The main part of the story concerns a young man named Philip who becomes the prior of Kingsbridge at a very young age, when the old prior dies. Philip sees the sad state of the monastery, village and church--one of its two towers fell down years ago and no one has bothered to repair it. Philip intends to rebuild the church and restore the area to prosperity.

He meets Tom, who is traveling around with his young family, looking for work as a mason and on the verge of starving after a thief stole their prize possession, a pig. Along the way they meet Ellen, a beautiful young woman who lives in the forest with her son Jack. There is something very mysterious about her: they live in a cave, where they are safe and dry, eat well and have books. While Tom is reluctant to leave them, he and his family walk on to the next town, hoping for better luck. There is a sense of urgency, because Agnes is pregnant.

Later, Tom's wife Agnes gives birth to a baby boy in the forest, and there is no one to help her but Tom and the children. After she has seen her baby and nursed him, Agnes is exhausted and falls asleep, but something goes wrong--she bleeds to death. Tom buries her in the woods, then agonizes over what to do with the baby--they have no food or money--and finally leaves the baby wrapped up in a cloak on the grave. After he and the children have walked into the woods for awhile, he realizes that he made a terrible mistake; they retrace their steps but the baby is gone. Ellen and Jack appear and reassure them that the baby is alright: Jack saw a priest rescue the child and knows where they have taken him. The priest who found the baby is Francis--brother of Philip, and Francis brings the baby to the monastery.

When Tom hears that there is a new prior, he takes a chance and goes there to ask about work. Philip soon sees that Tom has an amazing ability for designing buildings--and making the necessary calculations to determine the supplies, workers, and time needed to accomplish his goals.

Philip has his own problems with politics and power struggles: several of the monks resist any good idea that he has and the priest who becomes the bishop Waleran Bigod doesn't like him and is constantly trying to thwart all of the good that Philip tries to do.

Some of the other characters include a knight and his wife, Percy and Regan Hamleigh, and their son William, who are behind most of the trouble in the story. They want to move up in society and seem to think that the world is against them if they don't get their way. The Bishop only reinforces their feelings and uses them to do his dirty work.

Early on in the story, things go wrong for Tom and his family when he is working as a master builder, in charge of a crew building a magnificent home for a young couple about to get married. Then, the wedding gets called off by the bride-to-be, Aliena, daughter of Earl of Bartholomew. Their parents arranged the marriage, but after meeting, Aliena realizes that she cannot tolerate the crude, cruel and arrogant William. Humiliated, William storms up to the work site and fires everyone and nearly runs down Tom's young daughter Martha with his horse. This throws them into poverty because Tom cannot find another job. However, the rejection by the Lady Aliena feeds William's hatred.

Add to the mix all kinds of political and religious intrigue, power plays, and conspiracies, plus a series of attempts to overthrow the current King or Queen, and the book is packed with action. However, there are also several love stories, a lot of description of daily life in the middle ages, as well as what it takes to build a cathedral.

The book has been a WPL book club selection; you can find The Pillars of the Earth in print or in the CDbook collection at the WPL.

If you are interested in checking out the author's website, you will find a number of features, such as a list of characters presenting visually..