11 Best Ken Follett Books

January 28, 2021

Reading historical fiction is a great way to learn about history. Instead of memorizing boring facts like dates and names, you can be transported into another time period, and even get to know people who lived during that time.

Ken Follett is one of today’s greatest writers of historical fiction, with more than 30 novels to his name. His books cover some of the most critical turning points in world history.

In addition to publishing books under his real name, Follett has also used pen names, including Zachary Stone, Storm Island, Martin Martinsen, and Bernard L. Ross.

The Best Ken Follett Books

Below are 11 oF Ken Follett’s best books. For books in a series, we have linked to the first book.

1. The Kingsbridge Series

The Pillars of the Earth is the first book in the Kingsbridge Series. It is set in the Middle Ages and follows the lives of a community near a prominent cathedral in a fictional town in England. Ken Follett includes important elements like the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Becket and the tragic White Ship sinking, while still weaving a compelling tale of politics, religion, and love.

The second book, World Without End, picks up 157 years later, during the Edwardian War and the Black Death. Subsequent books cover the royal family in England, all the way to the development of the legal system during the years of Viking raids and Norman attacks on England.

2. The Century Trilogy

Fall of Giants is the first book in Ken Follett’s Century Trilogy, which follows people from five fictional families at the start of World War I, all the way to the Russian Revolution and even the women’s rights movement.

The great thing about these novels is that you not only travel to significant periods in history, but readers also get to travel around the world. And, a key focus of these stories is the triumphs of the working middle class over the aristocratic elite, as Ken Follett effectively weaves together the lives of characters from different social backgrounds.

The second book, Winter of the World, features the next generation of the same families living through World War II and the Nazi regime, all the way to the Cold War.

3. Eye of the Needle

This novel is part thriller, part historical fiction and inspired the 1981 film of the same title. The book garnered Follett the Edgar Award for Best Novel and is considered his first major success.

Eye of the Needle opens in 1940, when a German spy who goes by the code name “the Needle” is on assignment to get important information on London to send to Berlin. Due to some turn of events, he gets framed for murder, and ends up escaping to a tiny island off the shores of Scotland.

4. The Key to Rebecca

While researching for Eye of the Needle, Follett stumbled upon the story of Johannes Eppler, a Nazi spy, who inspired the main character of this book, Alex Wolff. In this novel, Wolff heads to Egypt to deliver a code to the German General Erwin Rommel. This code, linked to Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, will open the doors of Cairo to German forces.

5. A Dangerous Fortune

When a student dies right in front of his friends in a mysterious drowning accident at a prestigious boarding school in 1866, his death continues to haunt them even 20 years later. By that time, they are all part of the upper strata of British society, with the Victorian class system crashing down all around them.

6. A Place Called Freedom

This novel follows Mack McAsh, who advocates for the rights of mistreated coal miners. In the process, he wins the attention of Lizzie Hallim, who, unfortunately is married to one of the mine owners Mack is advocating against.

7. Hornet Flight

In this novel based on a true story, Follett focuses on a Danish pilot during World War II, teenager Harald Olufsen, who, in the midst of German air dominance, finds a new German radar. Because of this, the Germans hunt him down, and he ends up flying an old plane to England to escape.

8. The Man from St. Petersburg

This novel, set in 1914, shows the need of both sides of the war for Russia. Winston Churchill and the Earl of Walden conspire for a secret alliance with this superpower, but someone steals into England, affecting the trajectory of history.

9. On Wings of Eagles

This nonfiction thriller tells the true story of several key players during the Iranian revolution, as Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord are rescued from a prison in Tehran, thanks to a team of computer executives led by a Green Beret colonel who comes out of retirement.

10. Lie Down with Lions

This novel is set in the Afghan Mountains, where two young aid workers and an American arrive in the Valley of Five Lions with a message for Masud, the legendary leader of the guerrillas. The Russians want him, dead or alive.

11. Night Over Water

The year is 1939, and war was just declared. The luxurious Pan American Clipper carries several privileged people on a flight to New York. What will unfold overnight as the plane crosses the Atlantic, with tensions mounting and finally exploding in a terrifying climax?

The Best of Ken Follett

Reading Ken Follett books is a great way of immersing yourself in different cultures and nuances of times past. Plus, you get to enjoy the heart-stopping thrill of espionage, love, and time-ticking, life-and-death choices.

Of course, he’s not the only historical fiction novelist around, so don’t be afraid to try other historical fiction books. The more you read, the wider your perspective will be!

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