Editing Ken Follett (section)

=== Kingsbridge series ===
Follett surprised his readers with his first non-spy thriller, ''[[The Pillars of the Earth]]'' (1989), a novel about building a [[cathedral]] in a small English village during [[the Anarchy]] in the 12th century. The novel was highly successful, received positive reviews and was on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for eighteen weeks. It topped best-seller lists in Canada, Britain and Italy, and was on the German best-seller list for six years. As of 2017 it has sold 26 million copies.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://boingboing.net/2017/08/18/interview-with-ken-follet-abou.html | title = Interview with Ken Follett about forthcoming 3rd book in Kingsbridge series: A Column of Fire | first = Mark | last = Frauenfelder | date = 18 August 2017 | work = [[Boing Boing]] | access-date = 4 September 2017}}</ref> On 16 August 2017, [[The Pillars of the Earth (video game)|a computer game adaptation]] by German developer and publisher [[Daedalic Entertainment]] was released.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://ken-follett.com/news/ | title = The Pillars of the Earth video game is out now | date = September 2017 | publisher = Ken Follett | access-date = 4 September 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170904104536/https://ken-follett.com/news/ | archive-date = 4 September 2017}}</ref>

Its much-later sequel,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ken-follett.com/news/140508_us_penguin_rights.html | title = Ken to pen sequel to The Pillars of the Earth | date = 5 May 2014 | publisher = Ken Follett | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170904070130/http://ken-follett.com/news/140508_us_penguin_rights.html | archive-date = 4 September 2017}}</ref> ''[[World Without End (Follett novel)|World Without End]]'' (2007), returns to Kingsbridge 157 years later, and features the descendants of the characters in ''Pillars''. It focuses on the destinies of a handful of people as their lives are devastated by the [[Black Death]], the plague that swept Europe from the middle of the 14th century.

The next novel in the series is ''[[A Column of Fire]]'' (2017).<ref name=Follet-ACoF>{{cite web | url = https://ken-follett.com/books/a-column-of-fire/ | title = A Column of Fire | date = n.d. | publisher = Ken Follett | access-date = 3 November 2020}}</ref> Beginning in 1558, the story follows the romance between Ned Willard and Margery Fitzgerald over half a century. It commences at a time when Europe turns against [[Elizabethan England]], and the queen finds herself beset by plots to dethrone her.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/ken-follett/the-kingsbridge-novels-series | title = The Kingsbridge Novels | access-date = 4 September 2017 | publisher = Pan Macmillan | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181216032445/https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/ken-follett/series/the-kingsbridge-novels/2839a3b6-13a6-468e-ec24-08d5ec285051 | archive-date = 16 December 2018}}</ref>

A fourth novel, ''[[The Evening and the Morning]]'' (2020), is a prequel to ''The Pillars of the Earth''. Set in the decade around 1000 AD – in the so-called [[Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Ages]] – the story "concerns the gradual creation of the town of Kingsbridge and of the many people – priests, nobles, peasants, the enslaved – who played significant roles".<ref name=WaPo-Sheehan>{{cite news | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/ken-folletts-pillars-of-the-earth-prequel-is-just-as-transporting--and-lengthy--as-his-famous-epic/2020/09/21/0a0a18d8-f6c2-11ea-a275-1a2c2d36e1f1_story.html | title = Ken Follett's 'Pillars of the Earth' prequel is just as transporting – and lengthy – as his famous epic | first = Bill | last = Sheehan | date = 21 September 2020 | newspaper = The Washington Post| access-date = 3 November 2020}}</ref> As such, the book provides "a solid underpinning to the later installments of the Kingsbridge series".<ref name=WaPo-Sheehan />

A fifth novel, ''[[The Armour of Light]]'' (2023), is set in 1792, around the beginning of the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref name=Follet-TAoL>{{cite web | url = https://ken-follett.com/books/the-armour-of-light/ | title = The Armour of Light | date = n.d. | publisher = Ken Follett | access-date = 19 January 2023}}</ref> The book explores the societal upheaval following the invention of the [[Spinning jenny| Spinning Jenny]] in 1770. Set against the backdrop of Napoleonic wars and economic transformation, it follows interconnected characters: a widow coping with her husband’s death in a factory accident, a young woman funding a school for impoverished children, a man inheriting a failing business, and a wealthy industrialist protecting his fortune at all costs. Amid war and social change, the story examines the human cost of progress and the struggle to rebuild a fractured world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kingsbridge |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/KGS/kingsbridge/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

The series has been described as being "as comprehensive an account of the building of a civilization – with its laws, structures, customs and beliefs – as you are likely to encounter anywhere in popular fiction".<ref name=WaPo-Sheehan />