An Amazon Best Book of 2020
The thrilling and addictive prequel to The Pillars of the Earth—set in England at the dawn of a new era: the Middle Ages
"Just as transporting as [The Pillars of the Earth] . . . A most welcome addition to the Kingsbridge series." —The Washington Post
It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns.
In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined. A young boatbuilder's life is turned upside down when his home is raided by Vikings, forcing him and his family to move and start their lives anew in a small hamlet where he does not fit in. . . . A Norman noblewoman marries for love, following her husband across the sea to a new land, but the customs of her husband's homeland are shockingly different, and it soon becomes clear to her that a single misstep could be catastrophic. . . . A monk dreams of transforming his humble abbey into a center of learning that will be admired throughout Europe. And each in turn comes into dangerous conflict with a clever and ruthless bishop who will do anything to increase his wealth and power.
Thirty years ago, Ken Follett published his most popular novel, The Pillars of the Earth. Now, Follett's masterful new prequel The Evening and the Morning takes us on an epic journey into a historical past rich with ambition and rivalry, death and birth, love and hate, that will end where The Pillars of the Earth begins.
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Creators
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Release date
September 15, 2020 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593289655
- File size: 700639 KB
- Duration: 24:19:39
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Publisher's Weekly
June 29, 2020
Follett delivers a lackluster prequel to his Kingsbridge series. The structure will feel familiar to series devotees; it centers on the intertwined stories of three people: a man who is good with his hands, an attractive noblewoman, and a cleric. This time, the action spans 997–1007 CE, and the leads are Edgar, Ragna, and Aldred, whose lives intersect multiple times despite their disparate backgrounds. Edgar, the teenage son of a boatbuilder, is planning to run off with a married woman until a Viking attack on his village in the west of England leaves her dead; that tragedy leads to his family’s move to Dreng’s Ferry, the future Kingsbridge, and to his developing career as a builder. At Dreng’s Ferry, he reunites with Ragna, a Norman woman he’d met years earlier, who has married Wilf, the royal official overseeing the area. Ragna, smart, independent, and beautiful, is trapped in an unfulfilling marriage. The “miraculously handsome” Brother Aldred, a scholar, finds himself confronted with corruption in the church, personified in Wilf’s cartoonishly evil brother, Wynstan, a bishop. The prose is often stilted and overwrought (“This was the funeral of his hopes”), and the plot elements are derivative of Follett’s past work, adding up to an epic full of romance tropes rather than a reimagined time and place. This is only for series completists. -
AudioFile Magazine
John Lee returns to narrate the long-awaited prequel to the Pillars of the Earth epic series. In 997 CE, Vikings attack a small English fishing village, and a young boatbuilder named Edgar must strike out to survive elsewhere. With his trademark eloquence, Lee portrays the ambitious Edgar, who finds success through his carpentry skills and develops a growing friendship with the wise monk Brother Aldred. Lee employs a lighter tone and delicate accent for Lady Ragna, a French noblewoman who marries the regional elderman. In an unlikely partnership over the ten-year span of the novel, Ragna supports Edgar's vision and skills in building a bridge that is key to the flourishing of a community that grew to become the city of Kingsbridge. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
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Formats
- OverDrive Listen audiobook
subjects
Languages
- English
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