Ever since Auntie Patsy let me read her copy of "The Pilars of the Earth" by Ken Follett, I have been a big fan of the author. It is probably the longest book I've ever read. I read it once in High School and I just finished reading it for a second time this morning. It is probably my favorite book. I was about to start reading "The Hammer of Eden," when I got the bright idea to check the authors web site, and when I did, to my excitement, there will be a sequel to "The Pilars of the Earth" coming out this fall. I am very excited. Here is what the website said.
World Without End. On the day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a thief, a bully, a boy genius and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed.
As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambition, love, greed and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world but come home in the end; the other will be a powerful, corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the long shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day.
World without End is the sequel to
The Pillars of the Earth. However, it doesn’t matter which you read first. The second book is set in the same town, Kingsbridge, but takes place two hundred years later, and features the descendants of the original characters.
Publication and promotion World without End will be published early in October 2007 by Penguin in the USA and Macmillan in the UK. The Italian translation from Mondadori will come out on 18 September; other translations will follow in 2008. From September through December Ken will be promoting the book in the USA, UK, Ireland, other European countries, Australia and New Zealand. Details of personal appearances will be posted on this web site.
Prizewinning filmmaker Gerald Fox is making a documentary about the writing of World Without End for the distinguished arts magazine programme The South Bank Show, hosted by Melvyn Bragg. Screening is slated for September 2007.
The charactersCaris is the feisty daughter of wool dealer Edmund Wooler. She is a direct descendent of Tom Builder, the hero of the first half of “The Pillars of the Earth”. As a child, she announces that she is going to be a doctor – but girls cannot study medicine in medieval Europe. However, she refuses to accept this prohibition. Her determination brings her into conflict with the church, and blights her relationship with the man she loves.
Merthin is descended from Jack Builder, the stepson of Tom and the architect of Kingsbridge Cathedral. He has inherited Jack’s genius. But for the conservative citizens who rule Kingsbridge he is too much of a rule-breaker, and like Jack he is forced to leave
Ralph is Merthin’s brother, but a very different character – strong, aggressive, impatient of books, an accomplished rider and hunter. He will use his warlike skills to rise to the very top of medieval society.
Gwenda is the daughter of a dirt-poor labourer and one of five starving children. She is plain-looking, but determined to marry Wulfric – the handsomest, wealthiest boy in the village. Wulfric is engaged to the coquettish Annet, daughter of a prosperous peasant. But Gwenda refuses to believe she cannot win his heart.
Brother Godwyn, also a descendant of Tom Builder, is a cousin of Caris. He becomes a monk at a young age and is determined to become prior of Kingsbridge – and he is not particular about the means he will use to get there.
