A Column of Fire (The Kingsbridge Novels)

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Patience is a must before tackling this novel, so be wary if you seek a quick story and easy to decipher characters. Column of Fire is a big book whichever way you look at it… and a massive commitment if you're planning on reading the whole series.

I was very familiar with this time period, the religious wars in France and England, the Spanish Inquisition. This book brings to a conclusion a story that began with the building of a cathedral in a tumultuous period of the Middle Ages and ends in the grounds of that same cathedral in the calm period that followed the infamous "Gun-powder plot" of the very early 17th. Follett develops mini-stories throughout Europe, presenting characters who exemplify the religious issues in Spain and France, as well as in England, the attentive reader will remember such ‘branch-offs’ over the aforementioned trilogy.Rollo Fitzgerald was awkwardly absent for large parts of the novel after initially being set up as a very important character. It will delight longtime fans of the Kingsbridge series and is the perfect introduction for readers new to Ken Follett.

The previous two novels in the Kingsbridge series of novels were more intimate in their characterisation and readers of this third novel in the series may miss this aspect of Follett's writing. I think I know why, and I'll get to that in a second, but I'd first like to say that this isn't a bad book. I would recommend it to those who have made their way through the others two, in hopes that they will find as much enjoyment in the historical references as I did. He interweaves the happenings of the times into the story line and makes this novel a true work of fiction seem quite real. Like the others, this one is set in a historical period and has lots of authentic detail drawn from written sources.Barred from watching films and television by his parents, he developed an early interest in reading thanks to a local library.

But, since we didn't see a lot of Barney and Rollo, their two story-lines felt almost arbitrary and random. Fans of historical fiction will surely love this tome, alongside the most open-minded and ‘tolerant’ Kingsbridge series fans. Ned Willard is the protagonist, and the novel follows his life from a teenager to a 70-year-old man through which time he has many lovers, wives, friends, and family. Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine - Spymaster, younger brother of Scarface and uncle of Mary, Queen of Scots, a hard-line Catholic. Ned decides to work for Princess Elizabeth and when she ascends the throne, Ned takes on the role as her protector and does so as a kind of agent tracking down plots, assassins, and those who wish Elizabeth harm and death.

The death of King Henry II of France in a jousting accident - a traumatic event setting the stage for the decades-long French Wars of Religion. Perhaps the most useful book was Conyers Read's three-volume biography Mr Secretary Walsingham, about the man who was the Elizabethan equivalent of “M” in the James Bond stories. A massive mountain of drama that is jam packed with history and epic conflict with some of the biggest personalities of the time.

Two camps emerge: those wanting continued Catholicism turn to Mary, Queen of Scots (and France); and those who seek to lessen the constraints of religious conformity turn to Princess Elizabeth Tudor, half-sister to the current queen. Mary Tudor, Queen of England - Elder half-sister of Elizabeth I, a hard-line Catholic (mentioned, but does not appear). Bartlet Shiring - First son of Margery and officially Bart Shiring (in fact Swithin), Earl of Shiring after Bart. Readers who know their history will know as the story progresses Mary Queen of Scots with her supporters trying ti rid Elizabeth from her throne and ultimately the demise of Mary. The Babington Plot (1587) in which Queen Elizabeth I's agents got hold of secret correspondence in which Mary, Queen of Scots explicitly assented to the conspirators' plan to kill the Protestant Queen Elizabeth and place the Catholic Mary on the throne - the evidence which led to Mary being executed for treason.On this basis, Willard advises the English commanders to load the cannons of the fireships sent into the port of Calais, so that even with no human crews they would start firing when the fire gets to them. Ned Willard and Margery Fitzgerald are two of the main characters who love one another and wish to marry. Accordingly, he goes to Westminster to support young Princess Elizabeth, possible heir to Mary’s throne. Oh, and for some reason, there was also a strange use of modern terminology in this book that I never noticed in The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End.