Novel of the Week - The Fall Of Giants by Ken Follett

       

I don't remember how this book finished in my hands, but I'm glad I've read it because it made me know this amazing author that is Ken Follett.

Here's the story :
Read More

It's the dawn of the 20th century and the novel follows the lives of five families all over the world. They're linked one to another, even if not directly.

There's Ethel Williams, an house maid who has an affair with the owner of the estate she works for, Earl Teddy "Fitz" Fitzherbert. She's naive and when she finds out she's pregnant she thinks that Fitz would leave his wife (Lady Bea, a memeber of the Russian aristocracy) for her. On the contrary, he fires her.

Then we have Grigorij  and Lev Peskov (two Russian brothers), who're planning to go to America for a better life. Unfortutately Lev impregnates a girl and left with all the money he and his brother have saved on the ship to America without Grigorij. 

Keep in mind that during all this, World War I started.

The other families are an American one, the main protagonist is Gus Dewar, a young man who works in the West Wing of the White House as one of the President's analysts. 
The last family is a wealthy Austrian family and Walter von Ulrich, an altruist man falls in love with Lady Maud Fitzherbert, femminist and Fitz' sister.


This novel is not only well written and a pleasure to read, but it contains all the ingredients that you might want : love, betrayal, friendship and the strenght to move on....beside historical facts and the very accurate description of the political environment of the time.
It's amazing how Follett managed to make historical and political personalities fix with fictional characters! I reccomend it 100%, you won't be disappointed.

Lucky me, this is the first book of a trilogy, The Century Trilogy, and the second books "Winter of the World" is already out. For the last one, we'll have to waint until 2014.

My vote : 10/10