The armor of light

Follett's latest Kingsbridge doorstopper, following A Column of Fire (2017), picks up in 1792 and features a large cast. Sal and her son, Kit, are victims of the incompetence and cruelty of Will Riddick, the squire's son. Sal tries to make ends meet by spinning yarn for struggling clothier Amos. Elsie, daughter of the bishop of Kingsbridge, is perfect for Amos, but he's blinded by yearning for Jane, a manipulator who's determined to marry up. Elsie's mother, Arabella, begins a torrid affair with weaver Spade, Amos' friend. The avaricious alderman, Hornbeam, overshadows all, thwarting Amos and Spade. All occurs against the backdrop of social unrest occasioned by revolutionary ideas from America and France, the Napoleonic Wars, and industrialization that offers opportunity while threatening the livelihood of many. Modern parallels are drawn with technological advances, polarized politics, inflation, and rioting. Follett's fans can look forward to his straightforward prose style and simple explanations of historical events and concepts. This epic canvas holds a mélange of relationships which all work out exactly as they should while Follett brings Kingsbridge up to the Regency era.

The fourth entry in Follett's Kingsbridge series (after A Column of Fire) is another vibrant survey of British history from the perspective of ordinary people, this time spanning from 1792 to 1824. That scope allows Follett to cover the impact of new technology--the spinning jenny, which worked eight times as fast as the traditional spinning wheel--as well as nascent efforts by the English working class to speak up for their rights. Those developments are made accessible through characters such as Sal Clitheroe, whose husband, Harry, is fatally injured while harvesting the squire of Badford's turnip crop. His death is caused by the negligence and callousness of the squire's son, Will Riddick, who was overseeing the harvest, and instigates a cascade of hardships for Sal and her six-year-old son, Kit. When Sal's request for financial assistance from the area's Poor Relief Fund is refused, Kit is forced into service in the very home of the man responsible for his father's death. The Clitheroe family's thread is deftly interwoven with other storylines, including those of Elsie Latimer, the bishop's daughter, who seeks to provide free education for the underprivileged, and clothier Amos Barrowfield, who wants to restore the family business to profitability. Follett is equally adept at portraying the horrors of war and his characters' quiet moments of despair. The result is an impressive and immersive epic. (Sept.)

The latest in Follett's Kingsbridge series takes readers to a time of turbulence. In late-18th- and early-19th-century England, Sally Clitheroe must struggle with personal tragedy in a time of great societal upheaval. After her first husband is crushed under an overloaded turnip cart, she must initially raise her son, Kit, on her own. She is an exceptionally strong woman, both physically and mentally, and is every bit a match for her second husband, Jarge Box. When he strikes his stepson, Jarge learns that he's made a big mistake: "If you ever touch that boy again," Sal warns, "I swear I'll cut your throat in the middle of the night, so help me God." Not that the young are generally respected; this is still an era when a child can be hanged for stealing 6 shillings worth of ribbon for his mother to resell for bread; when criticizing the government is a crime punishable by prison; and when two or more employees are forbidden by the 1799 Combination Act to criticize their employer. But monumental change is afoot with the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, and it's not all good. New spinning looms require fewer people to operate them, throwing many people out of work. Luddites, followers of Ned Ludd, destroy as many of the new machines as they can, but to no avail. Lawbreakers can sometimes avoid prison by joining the army, which ties into the dramatic set piece of this lengthy novel. When Wellington confronts Bonaparte at Waterloo, the carnage is horrific as cannonballs rip bodies to shreds. Sal and her son are central to the story. They are admirable characters without any obvious faults, but the rest of the cast has many: hanging judges, greedy businessmen, thieves, adulterers, murderers, and a bishop's aide who harbors unseemly ambition. They are all well developed and believable, and readers will love to hate some of them. A treat for fans of historical fiction. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.