READ THIS: Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
Ken Follett first amazed us when we read Pillars of the Earth, ages before Whom You Know existed. So, we were thrilled to take a look at his latest and greatest: Fall of Giants. The first in a series of three, this is a historical fiction work that takes place about the same time as Downton Abbey, and that is about 100 years ago for all of you who have not yet been enlightened! (You know Downton Abbey is Peachy's favorite show...!)
Fall of Giants is a tale about how the world begins to become interconnected in new ways and greater levels. Based on the personal connections (it's not who you know, it's Whom You Know!) of families from the USA, England, Wales, Germany and Russia, it gives the reader a connection to what might have gone on in everyday life during a wartime situation where citizens are far more directly affected than they are today. It was a time of great national pride and industry, and you'll be hooked from the first few pages. If you really get into it, you can read it all in a weekend and it is perfect for the next rainy weekend! We will warn you it is about 1,000 pages so it does require serious commitment. But it's a commitment you'll want to make.
The characters are real to the reader and as the book jumps from country to country from scene to scene, the reader becomes even more entranced with the plot that is woven, especially as each independent story winds up becoming part of another.
Whom You Know Highly Recommends Fall of Giants! We can't wait for the next one.
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Fall of Giants
Published worldwide in September 2010, and debuted at #1 onThe New York Times' hardcover fiction bestseller list!
The paperback edition debuted at #5 on The New York Times'bestseller list in September 2011.
Fall of Giants is a magnificent new historical epic. The first novel in the Century trilogy, it follows the fates of five interrelated families – American, German, Russian, English and Welsh – as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage.
Thirteen-year-old Billy Williams enters a man’s world in the Welsh mining pits…Gus Dewar, an American law student rejected in love, finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House…two orphaned Russian brothers, Grigori and Lev Peshkov, embark on radically different paths half a world apart when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription and revolution…Billy’s sister, Ethel, a housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts, takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German Embassy in London….
These characters and many others find their lives inextricably entangled as, in a saga of unfolding drama and intriguing complexity, Fall of Giants moves seamlessly from Washington to St. Petersburg, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty.
As always with Ken, the historical background is brilliantly researched and rendered, the action fast-moving, the characters rich in nuance and emotion. It is destined to be a new classic.
In future volumes of the Century trilogy, subsequent generations of the same families will travel through the great events of the rest of the twentieth century, changing themselves – and the century itself. With passion and the hand of a master, Ken brings us into a world we thought we knew, but now will never seem the same again.
The second novel in the Century trilogy, Winter of the World, will be published in the second half of 2012.
Published as
Fall of Giants has been published in 15 languages, and almost two million copies were bought worlwide in the first ten weeks.
The United States edition is published by Dutton/Penguin
The British and Commonwealth edition is published by PanMacMillan
The Brazilian edition, A queda dos gigante, is published by Sextante
The Canadian edition is published by Penguin
The Danish edition, Giganternes Fald, is published by Cicero
The Dutch edition, Val der titanen, is published by Unieboek
The Italian edition, La caduta dei giganti, is published by Mondadori
The French edition, La Chute des Géants, is published by Robert Laffont
The German edition, Sturz der Titanen, is published by Lübbe
The Hungarian edition, A titánok bukása, is published by Gabo
The Norwegian edition, Kjempenes fall, is published by JW Cappelens
The Polish edition, Upadek Gigantów, is published by Albatros
The Portuguese edition, A queda dos gigantes, is published by Presença
The Spanish edition, La caÃda de los gigantes, is published by RHM
The Swedish edition, Giganternas fall, is published by Albert Bonniers Förlag
The Bulgarian edition is published by Studio Artline
