Fall of Giants
by Ken Follett, Macmillan, $55
This is a stunning book. It is intended to be the first of the Century trilogy, and I can hardly wait for the sequels.
Set in the early years of the last century, it commences with George V being crowned in Westminster, the same
day 13-year-old Billy Williams begins life as a coal miner in south Wales.
The mines are owned by the aristocratic Fitzherbert family, who live in a mansion above the town, where Billy's 18-year-old sister Ethel is one of the housemaids.
So there are the two extremes. Coal miners living hand-to-mouth and aristocrats almost unaware of their wealth and extravagance, but fully conscious of their "position".
There is also the intermingling of European society - Germans, Austrians and Italians - with the British royal family and its followers, as well as Americans representing President Woodrow Wilson.
There are murmurings among the masses. Billy's father is a trade unionist and newspaper accounts of the social gatherings of the rich are "grist to the mill".
On the other hand, Maud Fitzherbert - a rebel in her youth - is intent on a feminist agenda with votes for women one of her aims.
And there is talk of war.
There are those among the higher echelons who would welcome the chance to prove their worth, taking no heed of the poor from whom the armies would be drawn.
The involvement of Russia is embodied in the plight of brothers Gregori and Lev Peshov.
They had planned to emigrate to America, but left it too late and although Lev escapes, Gregori has to fight on the Russian front.
The story is a complex one but such is the skill of the author and so authentic is the historical background, that the reader will be engrossed from the first page to the last.
