Charges of Geresy

The monarchy has changed a lot in the past 1000 years or so, though some things about it have remained – incredibly – much the same. It was only recently that Buckingham palace decided that it was willing to be more forthcoming about matters regarding the rulers of this kingdom than it has ever been, and willing to lay the personal vulnerabilities of members of the royal household bare in front of the people over whom they ruled. Writing this at a time when the present day King of England has recently announced that he has been diagnosed with cancer, followed swiftly by the wife of the King’s son, we see the stark contrast between the royal titles that hold sway over people’s minds and the fragility of the real human beings to whom they belong. So does this novel delve into the intricate power structures that hold up the realm, the structures that sway now between having a firm hold over people’s lives, and then teeter on the edge of structural collapse. Currents of wealth and control run deep beneath the paths and otherwise seemingly ordinary lives of the characters in The Pillars of the Earth, with the regnal and ecclesiastical conflicts of the time rising to meet us at unexpected moments throughout. Indeed, the pillars of the power structures are the people themselves, from the most impoverished of paupers and the humblest of merchants to the wealthiest of barons and the most revered of bishops. The Pillars of the Earth is a novel about people – simple people, pious people, evil people, complex people, the people that make up the world and its layers, from bottom to top.

Through the story, we follow the building of a cathedral, along with the successes that boost and setbacks that befall the process, with these rises and falls mirroring the lives of the many different people we come to get to know. The characters concerned are lovable and real. Tom Builder, Prior Philip, Jack Jackson – or Shareburg, Aliena. All of these people make up what is a fascinating and emotional tale that pounds along over decades. I really did feel that I had lived an age by the time I finished this book, and the time at which I started the book was separated from me by decades. Some of the characters, such as William Hamleigh, are also hateable – deeply hateable – and yet somehow there is still some semblance of humanity to them, and Follett describes their motives from within in such a way that, even if we cannot empathise with them, we can somehow attempt to understand them, which somehow makes things all the more real… and all the worse for it.

Although I am not by any stretch of the imagination an expert on the historical period in which this book is set, the attention to detail in the descriptions of the masterful art and science of medieval cathedral building are a joy to be exposed to. Follett seemingly effortlessly crafts a story that makes men and women who are now frozen in the coloured panes of churches around the country break free from their stillness and animatedly spring into existence. Supporting this are carefully crafted historical details, wordings, and minutiae that make the setting feel realistic, and the characters a believable product of the age in which they live.

Throughout the book, just when you feel that things are coming to an end – that this story arc is ending, that that one is nicely tied up – the rug is pulled from under your feet and the tangled yarn of the plot becomes undone once again. At points during the reading of this novel I felt genuine anxiety for the characters and their outcomes. But that is the mark of a good storyteller – one who is able to weave a brilliant narrative. And of course, out of the distress comes jubilation when the anxiety lifts. I do feel a sense of loss now that this novel has come to an end. A sense of having known a few good friends who I have watched grow and struggle and laugh and age and now am saying my final goodbyes to.

This novel is a genuine masterpiece and I will no doubt visit it again in the future, when I feel a need to spend some time in the calm and the serenity of Kingsbridge Cathedral and its precincts.