I got The Armour of Light by Ken Follett, one of my absolute favourite authors (see my blogs on The Pillars of the Earth, Fall of Giants, Winter of the World, The Edge of Eternity, The Evening and the Morning and A Dangerous Fortune) as a Christmas present last year and finally got time to read it in August. It was in hardback (now out in paperback) so I planned to only read it at home but, heavy as it was at 735 pages, it was so un-put-down-able that I ended up carrying it up to York and back by train on a work trip so that I could carry on reading it in bed. 

This is part of the Kingsbridge series that began in the Middle Ages and takes us here up to the early nineteenth century and the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, examining its impact of it on the fictional Devon city. The historical backdrop is the Napoleonic wars, revolution in France and the rise of mechanisation in the weaving industry, as Methodism challenges the established church, which looms large over the city in the form of its famous cathedral, the building of which started the series. 

Follett deals with social mobility, social unrest, hunger and poverty, suppression of trade unions, the rise of the Luddites, calls for expansion of the vote to working men, and finally the battle of Waterloo. But on all of this he treads lightly, seeing it only through the eyes of the novel’s protagonists. These are Sal Clitheroe, whose husband’s dramatic death is the opening scene of the book, her son Kit, and weaver David Shoveller. They are all trying to survive and live good lives despite all attempts to prevent them from doing so by the cold hearted local leaders of the city who are quite happy with the status quo. As always, the writing is gripping and as their stories unfold through death, imprisonment, courtroom dramas and the battlefield you become entirely invested in them and the other residents of Kingsbridge in this era. 

I cannot wait for the next in the series.