Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Child abuse
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death
Minor: Antisemitism, Islamophobia
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault
Graphic: Rape, Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, War
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
The story focuses on Prior Philip, who is helped into the leadership position of Kingsbridge Priory by Waleran Bigod, a scheming priest who soon goes on to become bishop of Kingsbridge and one of the book's main antagonists. The other heroes of the story are Tom Builder, a master mason, his stepson Jack, and Aliena, the dispossessed daughter of a fallen Earle, who becomes a prominent businesswoman in Kingsbridge. The other main villain is William Hamleigh, the son of the family that caused Aliena's downfall.
And I do mean villain here. Follett's heroic characters are interesting and likeable. He goes out of his way to make his villains despicable to the point where it becomes heavyhanded. The only things they ever seem to do is to plot to make the lives of the heroes miserable.
It does not help matters that rape is used repeatedly as a plot device, particularly with William, who spends most of his on-screen time contemplating sexual assault when not actually committing it. Most of this isn't necessary to the plot, as it's pretty clear from the start what sort of man William Hamleigh is.
I don't feel like I'm qualified to make issue of the historical accuracy of the setting. I felt like it worked well, and that Follett's love for cathedral architecture shone brightly through the story. The architectural and economic challenges of getting the cathedral built were fascinating, and the backdrop of historical events generally worked well, although there were a lot of times when the ongoing civil war for the Crown was at a stalemate and Follett had a hard time making that interesting.
The ending, which placed a couple of the main character right into the thick of the Becket murder actually felt a bit rushed, which was weird given the length of the novel, but the resolution was a clever callback to the opening of the story and the final scenes were handled well.
Graphic: Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Sexism
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content