A Column of Fire


A Column of Fire is a 2017 novel by British author Ken Follett, first published on 12 September 2017. It is the third book in the Kingsbridge Series, and serves as a sequel to 1989's The Pillars of the Earth and 2007's World Without End.

Plot

Beginning in 1558, and continuing through 1605, the story chronicles the romance between Ned Willard and Margery Fitzgerald, as well as the political intrigue of the royal courts of England, France, and Scotland, and the oft-times violent conflict between supporters of the Catholic Church and the rising Protestant movement in the late 16th century.
As depicted in the early chapters, the city of Kingsbridge is ruled by an oligarchy of rich merchants, who sit on the city council, with the most powerful family holding the position of the city's Mayor. The plot concentrates on three families which represent the main political and religious divisions in the English society of the time. The Fitzgeralds are a staunchly Catholic family, which under the Catholic Queen Mary gives them an advantage over the others and the position of Mayor. They seek to upgrade their social position by a marrying into the titled aristocracy. At the opposite pole are the intransigently Puritan Cobleys, who secretly hold Protestant worship - a highly dangerous act under Catholic rule. Their strong religious principles do not, however, stop the Cobleys from resorting to occasional underhand tricks to cheat their competitors and employees, and dabbling in the new lucrative field of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. In between are the more pragmatic Willards - nominal Catholics under Mary, but who would turn Protestant once Elizabeth came to power.
In the book's early part, the dominant Fitzgeralds make use of their alliance with the ruthless Catholic Bishop Julian to hit at their rivals. They get Dan Cobley burned as a heretic for conducting a Protestant service and drive the Willards virtually bankrupt by strictly enforcing anti-usury laws which are usually regarded as a legal fiction. This forces Ned Willard to take service with Princess Elizabeth, rather than pursuing his family's traditional commercial activities - eventually ending up as the Queen's spy master. Later on, with the Protestants gaining ascendancy, they take revenge on the Fitzgeralds, making their commercial activity dependent on renouncing the Catholic faith - thereby driving Rollo Fitzgerald out of business and into becoming an exile Catholic Priest and a mastermind of Catholic plots against Queen Elizabeth with pseudonym Jean Langlais.
With these two major viewpoint characters thrown out of Kingsbridge and into the wider scene, the book's focus changes. Unlike the two previous novels in this series, a large portion of the plot takes place outside the town of Kingsbridge, utilizing such far-flung settings as London, Paris, Seville, Geneva, Antwerp, and the Caribbean, and involving many major characters who have no direct connection with the town. In the later part of the book, Ned Willard's nephew Alfonso restores the Willard family fortunes conducting projects designed by his grand-mother and becomes the new Mayor like his grand-father. However, to the end of the book the local affairs of Kingsbridge remain secondary to the greater political and religious struggles.
The later parts of the book focus on the deadly battle of wits between Catholic conspirator Rollo Fitzgerald, hatching sophisticated dangerous conspiracies, and Ned Willard, the Royal spymaster tasked with uncovering and foiling these conspiracies. In many ways this echoes, under 16th Century conditions, the themes of Follet's WWII spy thriller Eye of the Needle - which featured a similar struggle between German spy Henry Faber and MI5 spy catcher Percival Godliman.

Historical events

The plot includes extensive depictions of several important historical events of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Follett in general follows known historical facts, but altering them to the extent necessary for his fictional characters to play a significant role:

Point-of-View Characters
Prominently Featured Historical Figures
Other Major Characters
Other Characters with spoilers
A Column of Fire shares a major plot element with Follet's Winter of the World. Though set in respectively the 16th Century and the 20th, both novels have a rich commoner woman marrying the scion of a titled English aristocratic family. In both books, the character finds herself trapped in a loveless and unhappy marriage, overshadowed by her husband's powerful autocratic father, and must try to make the best of it; starts a secret affair with a man she truly loves; and is able, after many tribulations, to escape the unhappy aristocratic marriage and happily marry her true love.

Reception

Bill Sheehan of The Washington Post summarizes the book by commenting: "Like its predecessors in the Kingsbridge series, “A Column of Fire” is absorbing, painlessly educational and a great deal of fun. Follett uses the tools of popular fiction to great effect in these books, illuminating a nation’s gradual progress toward modernity. The central theme of this latest book — the ongoing conflict between tolerance and fanaticism — lends both relevance and resonance to the slowly unfolding story of England’s past."