If you ever wanted to read an epic of world-building that is on the same scale as anything by Tolkien than I know the perfect book. A Column of Fire is the third book in the wildly popular Kingsbridge series by celebrated author Ken Follett. It tells the story of Ned Willard and Margery Fitzgerald, two young lovers from Kingsbridge who wish to marry. While Ned’s family is relatively supportive of the idea, Margery’s family is against it from the beginning. The story is set against the backdrop of the religious divide that is occurring in Europe. Ned’s family has protestant leanings and later converts to Protestantism while Margery’s family are staunch Catholics, even when it is against the law to be one. Margery is forced to marry the local earl of Shiring and Ned ends up working in the secret service of Queen Elizabeth. Interwoven with their story is the story of various other common people. Margery’s brother Rollo works to support the Catholic faith in England even though it takes him on a path that sets him against the government more and more. In France, we see the story of Sylvie Palot who works to sell Protestant works of literature, even though being Protestant is illegal in France at the time. Working against Sylvie and other Protestants like her is Pierre. He is a young man who has wormed his way into the service of the Guise family and is dead set on eliminating all Protestants in France, even if that means killing them. Tied into their stories we also see bits and pieces of the lives of others such as Barney Willard, Ned’s brother who works as a sailor and merchantman, or Alison, loyal companion of Mary, Queen of Scots. The book may narrate the lives of these everyday people but it also narrates the conflicts and events that were going on during their lives. In doing so it paints a breathtaking picture of the era and a fascinating insight into how the everyday people might have felt about the growing religious divide that was taking place.
Much like the rest of the books in the series it chronicles the lives of various people in the city of Kingsbridge, England. This particular book takes place in the 1500’s starting during the time of Queen Mary, also known as Bloody Mary, and moving through the reign of Queen Elizabeth and ending with the beginning of the reign of King James. Unlike many other works of historical fiction that take place during this time period, this work doesn’t focus on these rulers or other various important historical figures, as it instead focuses on the common everyday type of people that would have existed in this time. I have read several of Ken Follett’s other works, including other works in his Kingsbridge series. The one thing I have always admired about his work is his ability to create a character. What I mean by that is that his characters are fully fleshed out in every sense of the word. Ned Willard, one of the primary characters for this novel, is a great example of this. When you are reading events from his perspective you really feel like you are able to get to know him as a person. He shows his motivations and his emotions and what makes him tick, on every page that he appears. For instance, at the very beginning of the story Ned sees a Protestant get burned for being a Protestant under the reign of Queen Mary. This ends up becoming a driving force for him through the rest of the story. Ned’s end goal is not to force the country to be Protestant but to have tolerance and freedom of religion. He never wants to have to deal with the sight and smell of someone being burned alive because of their religion. His counterpart is Pierre, a young Frenchman who is working to promote Catholicism in France. Pierre was raised Catholic but that is not his main driving force. He is a very disturbed man who likes to have power and he gets off on abusing that power. This is part of why he attaches himself to the Guise family and their campaign to get rid of Protestants. By doing so he gets that power and has the ability to abuse it for his own ends. Each of the different characters is given this level of detail in order to create someone that really feels like they are an actual person. This actually ties back into the comment I made at the beginning about the world-building that takes place in this story. By creating so many different characters, often on opposite sides of various conflicts, Follett creates an actual world. Technically, I guess it is recreating since this is historical fiction, but the level of detail is immense. He takes all of these characters and interweaves them into the wider world and events around them. It doesn’t just take place in Kingsbridge, England but takes place in London, Paris, and the Netherlands, with small forays into Spain and the West Indies, amongst others. Each location receives the same level of detail that he puts into his characters. When describing Paris he includes details like, this location is opposite the city from another location. He actually takes into account how long it would take to travel and any number of other minutiae that are necessary when creating a fully fleshed out setting and world for a story to take place. This book definitely deserves a full five stars.
As you’ve probably gathered there is a lot I like about this book and this author. The only major downside is that because of this immense amount of world-building and character-building that takes place the book is immense. I was reading the hardcover version which was 900 pages. Not everyone is willing to read something that long. That being said the book is definitely worth it. I know not everyone is a huge fan of historical fiction so this book may not be for everyone. I would recommend that if you are a fan of thrillers, drama, or mysteries in addition to a fan of historical fiction that you consider reading it. This is an absolutely incredible read that I will be coming back to again in the future. I have read several of Follett’s other works, including some in this series, and every one of them has been amazing. This particular series continues to just, blow me away, in terms of how good it is. I read a lot of books, and I mean a lot of books, but there are very few that I fell in love with. This series happens to be one of them. I wholeheartedly recommend everyone at least try it. With the amount of detail and the various stories interwoven throughout there is probably something for everyone. If anyone has read it consider letting me know in the comments what you thought of this work or this author.