He nimbly balances the need to convey information about the time period with his character building, something that’s not easy to do. It’s hard to get through at points, because it just seems so damned unfair - but there’s always a glimmer of hope, always some way that the clever, resourceful, loyal people will win out over the vicious and mean-spirited, and so, as a reader, you plunge along with them.įollett is a masterful storyteller. And for a lot of the book, the good guys lose.
They find themselves in a delicate balance during the civil war and the Anarchy, when Stephen and Maud trade power, and when, more often than not, the rule of law means next to nothing. Throughout the novel, Philip and the rest have to contend with the scheming Waleran, the murdering brute William, and his insidious mother Regan, among other petty enemies, all of whom want to see the Kingsbridge Cathedral fail.
Prior Philip comes to her rescue, buying her wool at a fair price and allowing her to get herself and her brother back on their feet.Īnd this is all only in the first section of the book.
After several failed attempts at other jobs, she takes to purchasing wool fleeces from peasants to sell to the markets - but immediately finds that she’ll be cheated simply because no one will pay a girl what they’d pay a man. He makes her swear an oath to help Richard recover the earldom from the Hamleighs - but first she has to keep from starving to death. William brutally rapes Aliena and disfigures her brother Richard Aliena later escapes and finds her father in prison. Meanwhile, Aliena’s father gets involved with the first phase of the rebellion against King Stephen, but the Hamleighs get wind of it and seize his castle. In order to assure Tom of work and their family of stability, Jack starts a fire in the Kingsbridge cathedral, bringing it to the ground - and Philip gives Tom the job of master builder to design him a new and more glorious building. Ellen has been living in the forest for over a decade, after she cursed a monk, a priest, and a knight for unjustly hanging Jack’s father, but she falls in love with Tom and decides to accompany him, also believing that Jack needs exposure to civilization. In the woods, he encounters the outlaw Ellen and her son Jack. (This infant will later end up in the care of the Kingsbridge monks). Tom and his family wander in the woods looking for work, but when his wife died in childbirth in the wilderness, Tom decides to expose the infant they cannot care for. Unfortunate circumstances have left Tom out of work: he had been building a mansion for a local knight’s son, William Hamleigh, who was meant to marry an earl’s daughter, Aliena, but Aliena refuses to have the boorish oaf, and with the wedding off, William cancels the house as well. Just as he’s taking control of the monastery, his path crosses with that of Tom Builder, a genius architect and master mason. Though an extremely clever man and a capable organizer, Philip begins the book with almost astonishing naivete - not even in general ignorance, but because he, a man whose intentions are always good and peaceful, has trouble conceiving that not everyone is as honest as he is. He initially thinks of Archdeacon Waleran as an ally, but when he realises that Waleran shamelessly manipulated him in order to get himself appointed Bishop of Kingsbridge, Philip vows never to be blindsided like that again. And The Pillars of the Earth, set primarily during the 12th century civil war between Stephen and Maud, is about as good as they come.Ī monk named Philip, who believes God has a mission for him, sets out to reform a tiny monastic cell in the woods, but ends up prior of the Kingsbridge monastery, seat of the Kingsbridge bishopric. Title: The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge #1)