Circle of Days is the newest work of historical fiction by Ken Follett and it is brilliant. It tells a story about Stonehenge and its creation through the eyes of the people who built it. Joia is a young woman who becomes a priestess at the monument due to her wish to learn more about the natural world. Seft is a young man who escaped from his family’s flint mine to become a clever hands and marry Joia’s sister. Pia is a young farmer who wishes for peace between the farmers and herders so she can marry Joia’s brother. As that same peace becomes increasingly imperiled due to the actions of Troon, big man of the farming community, the monument becomes a target for destruction. When things spiral out of control and the local woodlander community under Bez also comes under attack there seems to no chance of reconciliation. Desperate to prevent further attacks against the monument, and also to hopefully attain some measure of peace, Joia approaches Seft for help building the monument out of stone instead of wood.
I have long been a fan of Ken Follett so I knew going in that I was probably going to enjoy this book. That being said I was still somewhat blown away by just how broad and sprawling this book was. Much like his other historical fiction it feels epic in scope even if it is slightly shorter. I know there is less definitively known about this time period in comparison to others that he has written about but the story itself is no less detailed and rich. You can tell that there was a vast amount of research that must have been done in order to write this story based on the level of detail present throughout. The vast majority of the story you can easily picture the community and the people as they go about their day to day lives. I feel like I could just slip right in to their lives almost. The characters are what really drive the story though as they have so many different dimensions to them. They seem so rich and vibrant in comparison to other books I have read. It is them that provide the real driving force of the story and make it so compelling. I have just finished it and am already looking forward to when I could potentially read it again. The plot is just as complex as the characters as the various people and groups interact with each other in some extremely complicated ways. Not only does Follett take into account the characters personalities but also the three extremely different cultures that are present and how that would affect their interactions. It is all superbly juggled to create this extremely intricate and complex story that ultimately paints a rich and vibrant picture of how Stonehenge might have come into existence. As you might have figured out by now I definitely enjoyed this new work of Follett’s and am happy to give it a full five stars which I don’t do very frequently.
This is a great example of a historical fiction epic so if you enjoy that you should consider this. Even more so if you enjoy works set what is often pre-history or books about Stonehenge. This book is aimed at an adult audience and I would probably agree with that classification. Considering the time period and Follett’s dedication to cultural accuracy where possible there are numerous references to potentially disturbing content including both violence and abuse in various forms. If a younger reader were to want to try this I would heavily suggest they are over the age of about sixteen. Only the violence is actually explicit and most of the rest is only mentioned now and again but it is present throughout the book. It does not detract from the book as that is still incredible so I hope you will consider trying it out anyway. If you do consider sharing your thoughts in the comments.