The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known; of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect - a man divided in his soul; of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame; and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, and brother against brother.
Ken Follett, born 5 June 1949, was only twenty-seven when he wrote the award-winning Eye of the Needle, which became an international bestseller. His celebrated Pillars of the Earth was voted into the top 100 of Britain's best-loved books in the BBC's the Big Read and the sequel, World Without End, was published to critical acclaim. He has sold more than 130 million copies of his works and many of his books have reached the No. 1 ranking on the New York Times bestseller list. He lives with his family in London and Hertfordshire. British narrator John Lee has read audiobooks in almost every conceivable genre, from Charles Dickens to Patrick O'Brian, and from the very real life of Napoleon to the entirely imagined lives of sorcerers and swashbucklers. He has won numerous Audie Awards and AudioFile Earphones Awards, and he was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile in 2009. Lee is also an accomplished stage actor and wrote and coproduced the feature films Breathing Hard and Forfeit.
'A novel of majesty and power.' -- Chicago Sun-Times 'A historical saga of such breadth and density ... Follett succeeds brilliantly in combining hugeness and detail to create a novel imbued with the rawness, violence and blind faith of the era.' -- The Sunday Express 'A tale of human courage and perseverance.' -- Evening Times 'A highly enjoyable tale ... this book evokes its period brilliantly.' -- The Sunday Times