“Fall of Giants” by Ken Follett
It is 1911. The Coronation Day of King George V. The Williams, a Welsh coal-mining family is linked by romance and enmity to the Fitzherberts, aristocratic coal-mine owners. Lady Maud Fitzherbert falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German Embassy in London. Their destiny is entangled with that of an ambitious young aide to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and to two orphaned Russian brothers, whose plans to emigrate to America fall foul of war, conscription and revolution.
In a plot 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.
It’s been a while since I've read a book I almost literally couldn’t put down. Fall of Giants is Ken Follett at his best. Historical fiction, epic in scale yet filled with individual emotions and events.
The last couple of Follett’s novels I’ve read have been a little disappointing. They weren’t bad. But certain authors get to a point where, as good as their stories might be, they will always be in competition with themselves. But Fall of Giants is up there with The Pillars of the Earth.
I remember seeing this one when it came out, but it’s taken ten years to get to the top of my wish list, and I’m so glad it did. Telling the story of the First World War from the point of view of five families from some of the main countries involved. England, with the Williams and Fitzherbert families, Germany, with the von Ulrichs, Russia, with the Peshkovs, and American, with the Dewars.
But don’t expect a history of the First World War. In fact, once the war begins the story skips forward several times. This is a book about the characters. We don’t need to know every engagement and battle. We know that the conflict is ongoing in the months we don’t see. We only need to read about the significant events that impact them personally.
Actually, my favourite parts of the story with either side of the war itself. The events of 1914 to 1918 are a story told many times before. What grabbed me was the behind-the-scenes drama in the run-up and wrap-up of the conflict. This is where the human drama lies. The younger generation desperately trying to keep things from exploding into war, while the older generation determinedly marches forward with jingoistic mantras of the honour and the glory of battle. The creaking power of the class system straining from the pressure of incoming change.
In a few places, the book suffers from noticeable information dumps. In order to fill the reader in on a situation, two characters will recap their knowledge in ways that don’t feel quite natural. But I do have a decent amount of background knowledge of this period, and to someone without that knowledge maybe it would be less noticeable.
The characters are archetypes, but they are used well enough that they feel oversimplified. Billy is a salt of the earth Welsh miner. Fitz is an entitled aristocrat who is deep down a good person but too entrenched in the establishment he was born into. Maud is a plucky aristocrat using her position and wealth to fight for women’s rights, while not quite understanding the plight of women in a different class. Rather than stereotypes, they are representations of the different demographics of the class struggle.
Follett is a writer who knows where his strengths are, and the characters are enough to tell the story he wants to tell.
Ultimately, my review comes down to the fact, as I mentioned above, I literally couldn’t put this book down. I was reading it every chance I got. Maybe that was influenced by the fact I have a particular interest in the time period. Either way, I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book in the trilogy.
