Title: Great historical fiction
Product review: I'm not a huge fan of historical ficton, so I was very pleasantly surprised by Follet's _Pillars of the Earth_. Set in 12th century England, the story centers around the construction of a gothic cathederal. A wide variey of brilliantly written characters come and go over the generation it takes to complete the massive undertaking, giving a very human context to the stone and mortar construction. While Follet's characters will keep you interested, he also give a detailed account of how medieval buildings were constructed, with a fairly accurate feel for the social, political and economic interests that also come into play. For the lay reader, this is as good as it gets in showing life in the high middle ages. For the historian or armchair scholar there are certainly bones to pick, but the sheer entertainment value of the book warrants 5 stars.
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