Tower and Town, November 2017 (view the full edition)Book ReviewA Column of Fire, by Ken Follett Many readers will have taken great pleasure already from Ken Follett's 'Kingsbridge' novels, focusing as they do on what we surely think of as our very own Salisbury. His love of gothic architecture and the romantic stories he weaves around the building of Kingsbridge's great cathedral have already delighted a huge audience. So it was with eager anticipation that I opened the first page of A Column of Fire. However, this third novel in the series is a little different. Rather than turning on the cathedral itself, it follows more closely the pattern of Follett's other engaging series, his 20th Century Trilogy, in that it focuses on a historical period, following the trials and tribulations of a nexus of families living through those times. In this case he is dealing with the reigns of Mary, Elizabeth 1 and James 1, and his theme is the vicious religious rivalry and bloodshed of that era. So we have burnings at the stake, the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Throckmorton and Babington, the Armada and the Gunpowder Plot. With such fantastic material, who could go wrong? And yet... While his historical material is excellent, I was surprised more than once to find the plot unconvincing. There emerged also the bones of a formula that Follett seemed to have slipped into. The male hero is a bright lad, full of what it takes. He falls in love with a girl above his station and destined for a socially advantageous match. His only offspring comes through a passionate affair with a boorish aristocrat's wife. In short, the patterns are familiar from previous volumes. Still, none of that stopped me racing greedily through, and I loved it for its historical sweep and for the reminder that this sceptred isle has survived many a dire time of threat. Hugh de Saram |