The Pillars of the Earth - by Ken Follett

When I started on this book, both the size and the subject - historical fiction - seemed daunting. Fortunately, I had some good reading time ahead of me - long flights and a holiday - so I got stuck in. After 200 pages or so, I was thoroughly hooked. It still took me quite a while to finish, but I enjoyed the journey.

My concern about the size was that the author would be verbose. In fact, his writing style is quite economic and he has a very straightforward way with words. He used all the space to go off on occasional tangents, which always added to, instead of distracting from, the story. The story is complex, over quite a long period, with many characters, but I never felt lost.

I always hope that, when I read a novel, apart from being entertained [which I was], I will learn something. Although I have yet to do any fact checking, I did have the impression that I learned much about everyday life in 12th Century England and the historical context.

I will be tempted to read the sequel at some point - it has a similar page count. I discovered that a 3rd volume will be available later in the year.