World Without End

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World Without End

INTRODUCTION

Ken Follett's novel World Without End is the companion volume to his earlier book, The Pillars of the Earth, published in 1989. In Pillars, set in twelfth-century England, Follett told the story of the people who built a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge. World Without End is set two hundred years later in the same town, with the cathedral in place and with some of the same families present several generations later, as we can tell by surnames like Builder or Barber that, like the professions they designate, descend from father to son. World Without End is also a story about progress and its effects. Kingsbridge Cathedral, a towering achievement in its time turns out to be structurally unsound, and the current generation must find ways to rebuild and repair it based on better knowledge and the perspective of years.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

KEN FOLLETT

2007

Ken Follett was born June 5, 1949, in Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales, to Martin D. Follett (a tax collector) and Lavinia C. (Evans) Follett. Follett and his family moved from Wales to London when the author was ten years old. During the years in London, Follett, who was bored in school, began playing guitar and learning songs popularized by Bob Dylan and the Beatles.

Follett was educated at University College, where he studied philosophy and received a bachelor of arts degree in 1970. As a student in the 1960s, he was involved in political activities, including protests against the Vietnam War and opposition to apartheid in South Africa.

After graduating from college, Follett worked as a journalist and pop music critic in Cardiff and London. He began writing fiction on the side and took a position at Everest Books in 1974 in order to learn more about the publishing industry. Although he had already published several novels (including several murder mysteries under the pseudonyms Symon Myles, Piers Roper, and Bernard L. Ross), his first major success was a spy novel, Eye of the Needle, published in 1978, which won that year's Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. It was made into a popular movie in 1981.

Follett went on to write numerous other thrillers, with bestsellers including Triple (1979), which dealt with the Arab-Israeli conflict, The Key to Rebecca (1980), based on the adventures of a Germanspy, and The Man from St. Petersburg (1982), a World War II spy novel in which the Russians form an alliance with the English against Germany.

The Pillars of the Earth, published in 1989, represented a major change for Follett—from espionage to historic romance. This highly successful novel, set in the Middle Ages and detailing the construction of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, later became an Oprah Book Club selection. Booklist praised the novel as “a towering triumph of romance, rivalry, and spectacle from a major talent.” World Without End, published in 2007, takes up this story two hundred years later in fourteenth-century Kingsbridge, with the cathedral now in place and the townspeople subjected to the challenges of poverty, class divisions, war, and finally the plague (also called the Black Death), which swept through Europe in the middle of that century.

Follett has written a total of twenty-two novels to date, as well as two books of fiction for children, The Mystery Hideout and The Power Twins.

In 1968 Follett married Mary Emma Ruth Elson, with whom he had a son and a daughter. The couple divorced in 1984. Follett married Barbara Broer in 1985. His wife is a member of the British Parliament and an active member of the Labour party. She was recently appointed as Minister for the East of England and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Work and Pensions. The couple resides in London, England.

PLOT SUMMARY

Part I, Chapters 1–5, November 1, 1327

The book opens on Halloween, with the inhabitants of Kingsbridge awaiting the All Hallows service on the following day. Gwenda, age eight, is instructed in the art of pickpocketing as a means to help her poor and hungry family, and is sent into the gathering crowd to do her job. She succeeds in stealing Sir Gerald's coin purse, which is dangling in reach from the man's belt.

Chapter 2 introduces us to another of the four children who become central characters of the novel. Eleven-year-old Merthin is the son of Sir Gerald, from whom Gwenda has stolen the money. His family, once aristocratic, is no longer well-off, and the loss is a great hardship. Merthin's brother Ralph is the third of the central characters to be introduced. Caris, the fourth key character, is the daughter of Edmund Wooler. For differing reasons, the four children end up together in the forest outside of town. Ralph and Merthin go there to practice shooting arrows at targets, an idea suggested by the clever Gwenda, who accompanies them. Meanwhile, Gwenda is fleeing from town to avoid being caught for her thievery. In the forest the children encounter a knight, Thomas Langley, who bears a secret that will turn out to be a central part of the remaining story. He is on the run from a pair of thugs, who show up right behind him. They have stolen Gwenda's money package and buried it out of sight. With help from the others, Ralph, skilled in archery, fends off and kills the thugs. Thomas loses an arm from the injury he sustains in the attack, and the children work together to set his bleeding wound.

In Chapter 3, the children return from the forest. Gwenda goes to Caris's luxurious family home to look at the puppies they have been keeping. Caris offers Gwenda one of the puppies, and the two become fast friends. Caris's mother suffers from a wasting disease and is on the verge of death. She seeks out the help of Sister Cecelia, who provides comfort but says that there is nothing she can do, and that God is the only healer.

Chapter 4 takes us inside the cathedral and into the lives of the monks and nuns who live and work there. Brother Godwyn longs to study at Oxford, but Prior Anthony does not approve of this plan. Thomas, the knight the children encountered in the forest, enters the monastery just as he has told the children that he would. As Part I closes in Chapter 5, Gwenda tells her father that she has lost her money (the thugs took it), and he returns to the forest with her to recover it from the dead bodies. Caris's mother dies, and she is left in the care of her aunt Petranilla, the mother of Godwyn.

Part II, Chapters 6–13, June 8–14, 1337

In Part II, which takes place ten years later, Merthin is twenty-one years old and an apprentice builder, with Elfric as his master. Merthin is fabulously talented, while Elfric is not. Merthin and Caris are in love but stay chaste, although Merthin is subject to lust and being seduced by other women, including Elfric's ugly daughter Griselda. Griselda, who is already pregnant by another man, lures Merthin into a sexual encounter so that she can entrap him into marriage and name him as the father of her child.

Gwenda is in love with Wulfric, but Wulfric is in love with the vivacious Annet Perkin. Caris, who remains close with Gwenda, wants to help her get Wulfric's attention. She therefore obtains a love potion from Mattie Wise. But Gwenda's father, the no-good Joby, has other plans. He connives to sell Gwenda into prostitution in exchange for a cow. Fortunately, Gwenda manages to kill her captor and escape. Gwenda's ambitious brother Philemon enters the monastery and becomes Godwyn's right-hand-man.

The coming Fleece Fair is threatened by the possibility that the Italian buyers will go to another town to buy their fleece. This is a continuing concern throughout Chapters 7 and 8. Part II closes with the collapse of the bridge just as Fleece Week begins and the crowds are trying to get across. Many die, including Wulfric's entire family. Gwenda escapes by swimming across the river while others drown. Without the bridge, merchants cannot get to the town to sell their fleece.

Part III, Chapters 14–29, June to December, 1337

Part III begins with a description of the horrific results of the bridge's collapse. Mother Cecelia organizes a crew to care for the wounded, in which Caris distinguishes herself for her calm manner and problem-solving ability. The priests are busy performing funerals while the townspeople make shrouds.

Gwenda continues her pursuit of Wulfric after his family perishes in the tragedy. Caris takes Gwenda to the “wise woman” (Mattie Wise) for a love potion. Merthin builds a ferry to enable people to get across the river now that the bridge is gone.

Prior Anthony is one of the victims of the bridge collapse, so Kingsbridge will need a new prior. Godwyn shows his desire to be prior of Kingsbridge and, with the help of Philemon, begins to think of strategies to obtain this goal. Blind Brother Carlus is also in line to be prior. In spite, Godwyn makes a plan to rearrange the furniture before a big funeral so that blind Carlus will trip in the processional and lose favor. He succeeds in this plan, but new candidates for the job emerge, including the nephew of Earl Roland. Father Murdo is another possible candidate for priorship. He is not considered bright, but he is well liked by the multitude.

More revelations emerge concerning the secrets of Thomas Langley, the knight the children encountered in the forest, who is now a monk. We learn that the secret had something to do with Queen Isabella and a parcel of land.

Wulfric and Gwenda take the ferry built by Merthin, leaving Kingsbridge together to return to their village of Wigleigh after the bridge's collapse. Gwenda continues to be in love with Wulfric, but Wulfric plans to marry Annet Perkin. Gwenda begins to help Wulfric to tend his fields, hoping to win his love. Wulfric finds that he may not be able to receive the inheritance that is due him. Gwenda tries to help him get it back, and Wulfric is impressed with her efforts. She continues to work the fields, while Wulfric's fiancee Annet looks on. Joby, Gwenda's father, tries to sell her off once again, but Gwenda sets the house on fire and escapes.

Griselda's entrapment of Merthin becomes clear, so the two are not forced to marry. Elfric fires Merthin only six months before the end of his apprenticeship. Elfric will not give Merthin back his tools, leaving Merthin with little chance of making his own living. Merthin finds some work but thinks about leaving Kingsbridge in order to increase his chances. Meanwhile, Elfric continues to fight Merthin in all his efforts. Merthin is the obvious candidate to build a new bridge to replace the one that collapsed. Edmund supports him in this.

Merthin's brother Ralph reappears in Chapter 22. He is now a squire to the earl of Kingsbridge. Godwyn finds new ways to delay the election for prior in Chapter 23. Eventually he gets the position he wants, with the help of his shrewd mother Petranilla.

The townspeople assemble for an important wedding in Chapter 24. It is an arranged marriage to solidify the earl's political alliance. Caris escapes for a dalliance with Merthin, who shows her his plans for the bridge. Mother Cecelia comes to visit Caris and recruit her as a nun on the basis of her good work with the victims of the bridge collapse.

The bitterness between Merthin and his former master Elfric continues in Chapter 25 and is now centered on the design of the new bridge. They become competitors for the job. Godwyn is confirmed as prior of Kingsbridge. Godwyn, in his new role, supports Elfric for the job of building the bridge. Edmund (Caris's father) helps Merthin, and Merthin and Caris continue to meet in private for romance.

In Chapter 26, Merthin's brother Ralph continues to cause trouble. He connives to win the favor of Earl Roland to obtain a promotion from squire to lord, and eventually he achieves this goal (in Chapter 28), at the expense of his brother Merthin. Ralph tries to sidetrack Merthin by offering him the opportunity to build a new palace for an earl, which looks like a better prospect than the bridge to everyone except Merthin. By imposing a fake tax, Ralph blocks the passage of rocks from the quarry that is needed for the construction. Two men are killed at the quarry during an encounter between Merthin and Ralph's factions.

Gwenda continues to help Wulfric with the harvest of his crops, still hoping to win him away from Annet. Annet, however, is less interested in the marriage once Wulfric's inheritance is called into question. She decides to marry another man, and Gwenda feels she has a chance to get Wulfric after all. She comes up with a plan to help him win back his inheritance, but is willing to live with him as a serf if it does not work. In Chapter 28, Gwenda and Wulfric come together as lovers, but Wulfric is still hurt by Annet's betrayal. Now that Ralph is a lord, Wulfric must plead with him for the inheritance. Gwenda appeals to Ralph, who seduces her in exchange for a promise to help Wulfric, but in the end Ralph reneges from his promise.

As Chapter 29 begins, Merthin is still blocked from using rocks from the quarry because of the phony tax. He comes up with a plan that will require the assistance of the townspeople in a bucket brigade. The plan works, enabling him to lay the foundation. Merthin is puzzled about how Caris can love him but not want to be his wife. Later, both Gwenda and Caris discover they are pregnant. It appears that Wulfric and Gwenda will marry, but Caris consults Mattie for a potion to induce a miscarriage. As Part III closes, Merthin is not aware of Caris's pregnancy or of its termination.

Part IV, Chapters 30–42, June 1338 to May 1339

Chapter 30 opens with the news that the Kingsbridge Fleece Fair for 1338 is a major failure, especially for Edmund Wooler, who is subsequently bankrupt. Merthin built rafts for transport on the day of the sale since the new bridge is not complete and construction may be suspended. However, Merthin continues to live in the house he has built for himself on Leper Island. Merthin and Caris avoid each other. Gwenda, now married to Wulfric, is eight months pregnant.

In Chapter 31, Gwenda goes into early labor. The baby boy, Sammy, is fine, but Gwenda is at risk of bleeding to death. Caris recognizes Gwenda's voice as she cries in pain. They get Gwenda to the hospital under the care of the nuns. In the end, Caris finds Mattie Wise, who is able to stop Gwenda's bleeding.

Chapter 32 begins with a look at the events that have come to pass with Godwyn at the helm following the death of Prior Anthony. Nuns and monks are kept separate. Philemon has gained more power, as well as Godwyn's trust. Godwyn would like to have a palace built for himself but is foiled in this plan because Mother Cecelia, who holds the purse strings, will not let go of the funds.

Caris devises a plan in Chapter 33 that will help lift her father out of bankruptcy and revive the sale of fleece in Kingsbridge. She researches the possibility of hand-dying scarlet cloth similar to what the Italians have produced. She is successful in her efforts. Edmund is thrilled, and Caris becomes an independent businesswoman. Godwyn tries to impede her efforts by making it difficult for people to use their own machinery to do the processing, claiming the sovereignty of the religious order against the laity.

Chapter 34 opens with Ralph, now a lord, hunting deer with his squire. The scene has some echoes of the earlier time in the forest with the central characters as children. In the midst of their attempt to kill a deer, Ralph's horse makes a misstep and tramples one of the dogs that have accompanied them on the hunt. Ralph is thrown from his horse. While Ralph is recovering from his fall, he sees Annet walking alone and enlists his squire's help to accost and rape her.

In Chapter 35, Gwenda is one of the first people to spot Annet when she returns to town. Her immediate fear is that Wulfric will hear the news and, still caring about Annet, will seek vengeance against Ralph and then be punished for his actions. She devises a plan to trip him up before he can get to Ralph. She tells Ralph that the earl wants to see him immediately, so he sets off to the earl's castle just as Wulfric is on his way. In Chapter 37, Gwenda continues her campaign, appealing to Lady Philippa and Lord William to help Annet go after Ralph so he will be punished for his crime.

In Chapter 37, Caris goes to court seeking her right to continue with her fleece project despite the opposition of Godwyn and the priory. She loses her case on a technicality but continues to do the research and devises a plan to process the fleece in the nearby town of Wigleigh, where the prior does not have authority. In Chapter 38, Ralph worries on the night before his trial. The only possible punishment for rape is hanging. Merthin is divided in his loyalty toward Ralph because he is family even if he has done wrong. Ralph is found guilty but escapes from the court and becomes an outlaw, making his own way through the forest once again.

Merthin and Caris go about their separate ways, and Merthin has a friendly relationship with Elizabeth Clerk. In Chapter 39, Elizabeth shows she wants more than friendship and tries to seduce Merthin, who rejects her. He decides to leave Kingsbridge and goes to Florence to study architecture if he can't have Caris, but Caris finally says yes.

As Chapter 40 opens, Ralph and his squire Alan continue their life as outlaws, and a militia sets out to find them and bring them back for punishment. Ralph aligns with another outlaw, Tam Hiding, and together with Hiding's gang they go on a rampage of robbing and killing. In the meantime, plans continue for Merthin's marriage to Caris. Ralph is brought back to Wigleigh but once again is saved when the earl makes an appearance and enlists all the local men to fight in the war against France.

In Chapter 41, Godwyn is still fighting Caris, who has applied for a charter of Kings-bridge as a borough so that the town will not be under the sole jurisdiction of the priory and she can maintain her business. It is now the day before the 1339 Fleece Fair. Godwyn plans, along with Philemon, to try Caris as a witch in order to block the passage of the borough charter. Mattie Wise gets the same charge and is forced to leave town. Caris does not know she will be tried until the day of the Fleece Fair, when the announcement becomes public. She rises to the occasion, defending herself brilliantly, but many speak against her, including the new novitiate Elizabeth Clerk, who is jealous of Caris because she wants Merthin for herself. Father Murdo asks that the final test be an examination for the sign of the devil, thought of as a third nipple on a woman's body. Caris has a mole in her genital area, and she knows this will be her downfall. Mother Cecilia is asked to examine her to look for the sign. The only way that Caris can escape punishment as a witch is to enter the convent, but she must stay there for life. She agrees to enter the convent, even though she will not be able to marry Merthin, and she refuses to speak with him about her decision. Merthin decides once again to go to Florence as Part IV closes.

Part V, Chapters 43–62, March 1346 to 1348

Part V starts seven years after Caris has entered the convent. She now directs the hospital, and she also discovers that the monks have been scheming to steal money from the nuns. Godwyn's treachery is then revealed, and the only way to deal with the problem is to take it to the bishop.

Because England has once again invaded France and those in positions of power, including the bishop, are close to the battlefront, Caris must journey to France to find him. She travels with Sister Mair, a close friend and capable nun. Mair is sexually attracted to women, and specifically to Caris. Caris values their friendship, but she cannot return the physical affection. But when Caris learns that Merthin has married a woman in Florence, Mair is able to comfort her.

Caris and Mair make the difficult journey through France and are appalled by the devastation they find along the way, all caused by the British invaders. A woman whose sons have been killed gives them some of the boys' clothing so they can pass unnoticed through the military zone. They assist in the French hospital, and Caris shows her skills at surgery. When they finally make it to the British camp, they find that the bishop has died in battle. They arrange to see the king himself (Edward III) to ask for his aid in getting back the money, but he does not take them seriously.

Ralph is a hero among the British troops. He is a good soldier, and he enjoys the opportunity war provides him to rape and pillage with abandon. He saves one of his superior officers and is knighted as a reward, just as he had hoped. At the end of this period of warfare Ralph is named as the lord responsible for the area called Tench, and he moves into the manor there. Ralph brings his elderly and impoverished parents to live in Tench but not in his own estate, perhaps because he is embarrassed by their presence. In a political move, his hand is given in marriage to Tilly, aged fourteen years. Although others counsel him to wait until she is older, he goes ahead with the wedding, and young Tilly soon becomes pregnant.

In Italy and France, the Black Death—bubonic plague—is killing vast numbers. Merthin comes down with it in Florence, but he is one of the rare individuals who survives. When he awakens from his extended fever, he learns that his wife Silvia has died. Their daughter Lolla is untouched. Merthin decides to return to Kingsbridge, perhaps to marry Caris if she will leave the convent and consent to marry him. There, he finds that Caris still loves him but is not willing to give up her work as a nun. As Merthin walks through the town again, he cannot help but notice the structural weaknesses of the bridge he designed years earlier—the result of a bad patch-up job done by Elfric. Merthin sets up an experiment to show that the bridge has become detached from its moorings. Later, Sir Thomas takes Merthin to the tower attached to the cathedral to show him some cracks in the wall. Again, Merthin gets to the source of the problem and realizes that the tower must be rebuilt.

Caris asks Merthin to visit his brother Ralph in Tench and plead with him to allow Gwenda and Wulfric to be paid for the work they put in instead of working for food alone, and perhaps to grant them some of the property Wulfric lost unfairly. Merthin does as he is asked, but Ralph is still angry with Wulfric for having broken his nose in their fight about Annet. Although Ralph seems genuinely happy to see his brother again after his long absence, Ralph will not do as Merthin asks.

Mark Webber, the merchant who handles the scarlet cloth Caris developed, is up for the position of alderman, for which he must compete with Elfric. This would be good news for Merthin; he can get the go-ahead on his building projects. Just as the guild members are gathering for the election, Mark Webber comes down with the first case of the plague in Kingsbridge, and soon succumbs to it. He had been exposed on a recent business trip to a port town, where he had contact with sailors from France who carried the disease with them.

The remaining chapters in Part V relate the devastation of the plague as it sweeps through Kingsbridge. Mark Webber's children soon become ill and die. At the convent, Mother Cecelia and Caris's friend Mair are among the next victims. Godwyn refuses to acknowledge what is happening. Others observe the disease's spread from person to person, though contagion is a concept that most people do not yet understand.

From her death bed, Mother Cecelia tells Caris that she should be the next prioress. Then the disease itself gives Godwyn an excuse to keep Caris from taking this appointment. Caris had been asking the nuns working as nurses among the plague patients to wear a cloth covering their mouths, which in Italy had seemed to keep the plague from spreading. Elizabeth Clerk is the other likely candidate for prioress, and she is an ally of Godwyn. Godwyn proposes to her a plan to bring back the charge of witchcraft against Caris, calling these precautionary measures examples of heresy if the plague is understood as a punishment from God for human sin. Elizabeth's allies are quick to discard their facial covering, but when those allies soon fall ill themselves, Elizabeth loses her constituency, and Caris is elected as prioress.

Godwyn's mother, Petranilla, counsels him to leave town to keep himself healthy. He does not heed her warning at first, but when Petranilla herself becomes ill and dies in Chapter 61, Godwyn makes the decision to flee and instructs the other monks in the priory to escape as well. In a sermon, he reminds the monks of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac as an example of how God's command must unquestionably be carried out, and they all then leave town.

At the end of Part V, the new bishop pays a visit to Kingsbridge and Caris is asked to meet him. She thinks he will confirm her appointment as prioress, but he is really distressed because Godwyn, the prior, is nowhere to be found. Caris enters the cloister, where she would normally not be allowed, and finds the dormitory totally empty. The news is out that the monks have fled.

Part VI, Chapters 63–80, January 1349 to January 1351

At the opening of Part VI, Caris investigates further and finds that Godwyn has taken the monastery's precious relics, along with a substantial sum of money, on his way out of town. With Godwyn gone, Caris is able to be a leader. She becomes the acting prior.

Godwyn has led the monks to the secluded monastery St.-John-in-the-Forest as a means of escape from the plague. He is too late, however, because the disease has already made its way into the compound. In addition, Saul Whitehead, the spiritual leader at St. John, does not like having somebody else as boss. Acting in concert with Philemon, Godwyn hides the nuns' treasured relics and money beneath the tiles in the church floor.

In Kingsbridge, the death toll continues to escalate, leading to violence, property disputes, and rampant greed among the survivors. Merthin and Caris work together to maintain order. Elfric dies of the plague. Kingsbridge has lost a thousand of its seven thousand inhabitants within a month of the new year. Merthin continues to live with his daughter Lolla at one of the local inns. The innkeeper's husband is another victim of the plague. His widow, Bessie, is lonely and offers Merthin the comfort of her body. Eventually he gives in.

At the Kingsbridge hospital, Caris and the other nuns continue to do what they can for patients with the plague, though they cannot offer a cure. One of the patients who makes his way to the convent hospital is the famed outlaw and one of Ralph's former cronies, Tam Hiding. Caris finds Tam charming in spite of herself, and Tam then reveals to Caris the whereabouts of Godwyn and the rest of the monks. She sets out to find them, but when she arrives at the secluded monastery she learns that almost all of them have died of the plague. Among a small handful of survivors is Brother Thomas (formerly Sir Thomas). Godwyn and Saul are among the dead, but Philemon has escaped. With the help of Thomas, Caris finds the nuns' missing relics and money and uncovers a sinister plan.

On the way back to Kingsbridge, Caris notices all the untilled land that needs attending, since so many landowners and laborers are dead. She comes up with a way to motivate peasants to take over a plot of land they can call their own. The village of Outhenby is the setting for this arrangement, and word begins to travel that land is available there for the taking. Gwenda, Wulfric, and their two children are among the many that arrive in Outhenby. They have escaped from their master, Lord Ralph, who had them working for years only for food. They fear that Ralph will eventually find them and drag them back, and this is exactly what happens just after the couple has settled into this friendly new town. The first time Ralph arrives, the neighbors put him off, but the second time, he drags Wulfric back to Wigleigh by a rope attached to a cart. Gwenda and the children follow on foot.

Ralph receives another promotion, this time to earl, after the current earl dies of the plague. Ralph then schemes to make the earl's widow, Lady Philippa, his wife, but for this he will need the approval of the king. First he must get rid of his young wife, Tilly, who has taken refuge at the Kingsbridge convent. Meanwhile, the king's associates enlist Ralph to uncover evidence of a missing land charter that is part of the secret Thomas continues to keep. Ralph and some other local men invade the nunnery to find the charter, and while there, to kill Tilly. They succeed on both counts, freeing Ralph to marry again.

Lady Philippa despises Ralph and refuses to marry him, even though the king demands it. The king's legal assistant, Sir Gregory, suggests a plan to obtain Philippa for Ralph. He tells Philippa that Ralph will instead marry her daughter Odilla. Just as Sir Gregory predicted, Philippa is horrified by this suggestion and consents to marriage with Ralph to save her daughter from this fate.

For a while the plague seems to recede, but soon comes back with a vengeance. Among the townspeople who succumb to it are John Constable and Betty Baxter. Though Caris is still officially a nun, as the acting prior she challenges the old order, and she and Merthin are reunited as lovers. Caris wishes there were a way to house the plague victims separately from the other patients so the disease would not spread further. Merthin begins to execute plans to build a new hospital according to Caris's wishes. The anarchy and licentious behavior continues in the town. Friar Murdo has become the charismatic leader of a strange group of penitents who whip themselves into a frenzy in public and beg for money with each performance.

When Philemon once again comes into power, he calls attention to the evil of “fornication,” forcing Caris to end her sexual relationship with Merthin. Soon after her marriage to Ralph, Philippa “escapes” to live at the nunnery. Later, Merthin and Philippa become lovers, though Philippa is still married to Ralph. When Philippa becomes pregnant by Merthin, she makes a plan to seduce Ralph in order to claim him as the father. She follows through with this plan but then feels that she must maintain her honor by breaking up her relationship with Merthin.

The hospital that Caris hoped for has been completed, but the town has run out of money to finish the new church tower Merthin has planned. With Bishop Henri's appointment of two new monks as doctors, Caris is unable to follow through on her plan to keep the plague victims separate from other patients. The bishop gives one of the two new doctors authority over Caris to run the hospital. As Part VI closes, Caris has decided to renounce her vows rather than give less than adequate treatment or prevent the spread of disease to the extent that is possible. Merthin comes up with an idea to build a new hospital on Leper Island that Caris can run on her own with a different group of nuns, so as not to be under the leadership of Philemon. Merthin's plan for the new hospital means that Kingsbridge will be able to fund the new church tower. It looks like Caris and Merthin will finally marry.

Part VII, Chapters 81–90, March to November, 1361

As Part VII opens, Gwenda and Wulfric are having trouble with their older son, Sam, who takes after his real father, Ralph, in being a headstrong bully. Sam has run away to a new village and found work there. This means that he, like Wulfric, could be dragged back in shame if Ralph finds out. When Gwenda goes off in search of Sam, she tries to keep her journey secret, but she is not successful, and she is followed by the bailiff's son, Jonno. Jonno is prepared to return Sam in shame to Wigleigh. Sam resists and kills Jonno in the ensuing fight. Sam is then arrested for murder.

Caris and Merthin have been married for ten years, and Caris is in charge of the hospital on Leper Island. Although Philemon has no authority over her, he finds a way to malign her by preaching against some of her medical practices, bringing back the accusation of witchcraft. Merthin's tower is now nearly complete. His daughter, Lolla, now a teenager, has taken up with an unsavory group of friends. Lady Philippa's two boys are now students at the priory school and are frequent visitors to Merthin and Caris's home. Roley, the younger of the two boys, is Merthin's son rather than his nephew, as the product of Merthin's brief relationship with Philippa. During one of these visits, a stranger arrives at Merthin's house on Leper Island, who turns out to be Gwenda's son Sam, now on the run from the charge of murder. Merthin tells Sam to run away and find a new life, but he barely gets out the door before the law catches up with him.

Sam is found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang. With some coercion from Gwenda, who admits to Ralph that Sam is his son, Ralph offers Sama pardon. Later, Ralph offers Sam a job as a squire at his estate because he sees that Sam has the making of a great fighter. Although his parents disapprove, Sam accepts the new post.

Sir Thomas finally dies of old age, and Merthin, finding himself in the forest one day, remembers that Thomas told him to dig up a letter buried there after he died and no longer needed protection. Merthin, after one failed attempt, digs out the letter and learns the secret about Edward II's final days.

The plague returns to Kingsbridge, and Caris decides to keep the city closed from strangers and to enact strict laws to maintain this isolation. This means that she must stay at the hospital until the last plague victim dies, so she and Merthin are separated for several months. The monks, once again, have fled to the distant monastery in the forest.

Gwenda and Wulfric's son Davey shows his intelligence and business sense by growing his own crop of plants that can be used to make red dye. He is in love with Annet Perkin's daughter Amabel and wishes to marry her, much to Gwenda's dismay. Gwenda and Wulfric will not give their blessing to this marriage, but Ralph gives Davey special permission, allowing Davey to take over the land overseen by Annet. Davey is shrewd about the terms of the deal, so as not to be trapped as his father was earlier.

Ralph coerces Gwenda into a sexual liaison to obtain the favors she needs for her family. She goes through it once, but the second time she is repulsed. Her son Sam, now a squire, sees her on this visit to Ralph's estate and senses that something is wrong. He follows his mother against her bidding as she makes her way toward the hunting lodge where she is to meet Ralph. He enters the lodge just as Ralph is attempting to force himself on Gwenda. In the end, Sam kills Ralph (his own father) and his faithful assistant, Alan, with Gwenda's help. Gwenda arranges the scene to look as if Ralph and Alan had killed each other in a fight.

Lady Philippa takes over Ralph's position of earl after his death. Sam returns to live at the estate. Davey and Amabel marry, and Annet and Gwenda reconcile at the wedding. Bishop Henri has been named as archbishop, leaving an opening for bishop in Kingsbridge. Philemon is the obvious candidate, but at the last possible moment Merthin intervenes with Sir Gregory, using the buried letter as a gesture to the king in exchange for choosing bishop Henri's lover Claude rather than Philemon as bishop. Philemon gets a distant post, just as Caris and Merthin had hoped, so they can continue to do their work without his standing in the way. Merthin has completed the spire for the church tower, making it the tallest building in England.

CHARACTERS

Elfrid Builder

Elfrid is the leading builder in Kingsbridge, but is less talented than Merthin, his apprentice and later competitor. Elfrid's faulty designs lead to major flaws in local construction projects, but as a prominent businessman he continues to get important contracts. He is married to Caris's younger sister Alice.

Mother Cecelia

Mother Cecelia has great negotiating skills with the monks and a calming presence with hospital patients. She sees that Caris has leadership potential. On her deathbed, Mother Cecelia chooses Caris to take over as prioress of Kingsbridge.

Elizabeth Clerk

Elizabeth Clerk is in love with Merthin, but Merthin sees her as “just a friend.” Her jealousy of Caris as the recipient of Merthin's love causes problems when both become nuns and compete for the position of prioress.

Davey

Davey is the son of Glenda and Merthin. He marries Amabel, the daughter of Annet Perkin, Gwenda's former rival for Wulfric's affection. He is bright and industrious, like his mother, and starts a successful business growing and selling a crop of plants that can be processed to make dyes for cloth.

Merthin Fitzgerald

Merthin is one of the central characters who meet as children in the forest. He is steadfastly in love with Caris but hurt when she puts other responsibilities ahead of their relationship. He is able to make it on his own as a builder without the help of his former master, Elfrid. Merthin travels to Italy to study architecture after Caris turns down his marriage proposal. While in Italy, he marries Silvia, who gives birth to daughter Lolla. Merthin and Lolla return to Kingsbridge after Silvia dies from the plague.

Ralph Fitzgerald

Ralph is another of the four key characters who meet as children in the forest and is the brother of Merthin. He is a ruthless soldier, sadistic bully, and womanizer who somehow manages to get away with rape and murder, including the murder of his young wife, Tilly. Afterward he marries Lady Philippa, the widow of an earl. Together they have two sons, though the paternity of one of the sons is questionable. Ralph rapes Annet Perkin and forces Gwenda into sex when she comes to him pleading on behalf of Wulfric. Ralph is the probable father of Gwenda's son Sam, who is also a fighter by nature. In the course of the novel, Ralph works his way up the hierarchy from squire to lord.

Sir Gerald

Sir Gerald is the father of Merthin and Ralph. Although he is an aristocrat by birth, he has come down in the world and has little money and property of his own. He has a major setback when young Gwenda steals his coin purse at a public gathering at the opening of the novel. Sir Gerald is especially proud of Ralph for making his way up in the hierarchy.

Gerry

Gerry is the son of Ralph and Lady Philippa and brother of Roley.

Godwyn

Godwyn is the son of Petranilla and half-brother to Caris. He is an ambitious Oxford-educated monk and doctor who schemes his way to the priorship of Kingsbridge after Prior Anthony's death. He is stubborn, conservative, and prone to deal-making with the local merchants. His attitude makes him a continual threat to the good works of others, like Merthin and Caris.

Gwenda

Gwenda is Joby's daughter, Philemon's sister, Wulfric's wife, and the mother of Sam and Davey. She is one of the four key characters who meet as children, and she remains a close friend to Caris afterward. She is smart, industrious, and protective of those she loves.

Father Henri

Father Henri is the bishop of Shiring and thus Godwyn's “boss.” Caris consults him in that capacity, and on occasion he is helpful.

Joby

Joby, Gwenda's father, is a crafty, low-life peasant who trains his daughter to pickpocket at a young age, and then sells her for a cow.

Sir Thomas Langley

The central characters encounter Sir Thomas in the forest as children. He is on the run from two thugs determined to kill him. He survives but sustains an injury that leads to the loss of his right arm. The thugs do not survive, however, as young Ralph uses the opportunity to practice his skills in archery. Thomas holds secret information about people in power, and his secrets put him constantly at risk. He enters the Kingsbridge monastery for protection and is later known as Brother Thomas.

Lolla

Lolla is Merthin's daughter and Caris's stepdaughter. She goes through a rebellious stage in her teens and gets mixed up with a wild crowd.

Sister Mair

Sister Mair accompanies Caris on her trip to the battlefields in France. She is a kind and loyal friend, but Caris does not share Mair's physical attraction to women.

Annet Perkin

Annet is Wulfric's first love, although she eventually breaks off the relationship and marries another man, leaving Gwenda free to win Wulfric. She continues to desire Wulfric, however, and flirts with him in public on occasion, infuriating Gwenda.

Petranilla

Petranilla is Philemon's mother, Edmund's second wife, and Caris's stepmother. She is single-mindedly devoted to the betterment of Godwyn's welfare and career.

Philemon

Philemon is Gwenda's brother and Godwyn's right-hand man. He is extremely ambitious and willing to do anything to advance his career. He succeeds in spite of his lowly birth but never loses his sense of inferiority.

Lady Philippa

Lady Philippa is the beautiful widow of an earl who is forced to marry Ralph as part of a political scheme. She has a brief affair with Merthin, who is the father of one of her two boys, but Ralph does not know.

Jonno Reeve

Jonno, the son of Nathan Reeve, learns the job of bailiff from his father. When Gwenda and Wulfric's son Sam runs away from home, shirking his responsibility to the lord's estate, Jonno is sent to bring him back. The two come to blows, and Sam kills Jonno in the fight.

Nathan Reeve

In the Middle Ages, the reeve (also known as the bailiff) was an individual who served as an intermediary between the lord of the village (in this case Ralph) and the peasantry who work on the land.

Roley

Roley, with Gerry, is one of the two sons raised by Ralph and Lady Philippa, but Roley is actually the product of Philippa's relationship with Merthin. Gerry and Roley attend the convent school and are frequent visitors to the home of Merthin and Caris.

Sam

Sam, Gwenda's son, may be the child of Ralph rather than Wulfric. Like Ralph he is a strong-willed fighter but is never ruthless. When Gwenda pleads with Ralph to pardon Sam for the murder of Jonno Reeve, she tells Ralph of his probable paternity, and Ralph, surprisingly, secures a pardon. Ralph is impressed with Sam's potential as a soldier and decides to take Sam on as a squire at his estate.

Mattie Wise

Mattie is the village healer and a mixer of potions. Her treatments are based on her familiarity with herbs and other medicinal substances and are often more medically sound than the practices of others called doctors. Caris is Mattie's advocate in Kingsbridge, and both women are accused of witchcraft.

Caris Wooler

Caris is the heroine of the novel and one of the central characters who meet in the forest as children. She is the shining example of how much a woman can achieve in spite of the roadblocks society puts in her way. Merthin is the love of her life.

Edmund Wooler

Edmund, father of Caris, is one of the wealthiest citizens of Kingsbridge. He marries Petranilla after Caris's mother dies and thus becomes stepfather to Godwyn. He is intelligent and kind and serves as an ally to Caris and Merthin on many occasions.

Wulfric

Both of Wulfric's parents die in the tragic bridge collapse in Kingsbridge, and Wulfric is

then cheated of the land that was to come to him as an inheritance from his father. Gwenda falls in love with him, and finally woos him away from Annet Perkin with the help of a potion from Mattie Wise. He is a handsome man, a hard worker, and a responsible parent to Sam and Davey.

THEMES

Science and Religion

In World Without End, science and religion come into conflict with the spread of the plague, but Follett sets up the opposing forces earlier when he has Caris visit the healer Mattie Wise, whose potions bring her the charge of heresy. Mattie's form of medicine, and that eventually practiced by Caris, is very different from the medicine practiced by the Oxford-trained monks who have the official designation of doctor. What they learn seems to be based on theory rather than experience or clinical observation. The body was viewed by doctors as a part of the universe, based on early principles established by the Greeks and Romans. Four humors, or body fluids, were directly related to the four elements. These four elements are fire (yellow bile or choler), water, earth (black bile), and air (blood). They need to be balanced because too much of one and not enough of another could cause a change in personality. For example, too much black bile could lead to melancholy, now known as depression.

It is this view that Caris must fight against in her own developing medical career. She sees that treatment based on the theory of humors is not only ineffective but that it may in fact cause harm, particularly with respect to the plague. For example, the common medieval practice of bleeding patients, or taking out what was believed to be an excessive amount of blood, was based on the supposed balance of the humors. This actually put the plague victims in a weakened state that would lead to earlier death.

The overarching view of sickness and health presented in World Without End is that God sends disease as a punishment for human sin. If this is the case, anything that humans do to prevent or treat disease is seen as inconsequential, or even heretical. The fact that Mattie Wise's remedies help people is suspect because she does not see God as the only possible helper or authority. Through her association with Mattie Wise, Caris is also seen as a heretic, or witch.

Disparity Between Haves and Have Nots

The disparity between the ruling class and the peasantry is a central focus of World Without End. With shrewdness, persistence, and hard work, some are able to progress through the ranks, but it is difficult to fight the established order when the order itself is thought to be what God intended. Dishonesty and scheming are often the means by which to rise above one's destined class. For those who are less devious, property rights, and the lack thereof, are at the heart of their struggle, as with Wulfric and Gwenda.

The Role of Women in Society

The woman's role as wife and mother is also preordained by God, and punishment for stepping outside that role can be severe. Caris fights against this stereotype but, in the world of this novel, she must suffer the consequences, including charges of heresy and witchcraft and possible execution. Perhaps ironically, practice as a nun provided a means for women to prove their competence and exercise their leadership skills. Caris is an example of one such woman.

Readers also see widows who take over their husband's businesses and do quite well for themselves. Marriage arranged to meet a political end seems to be the ultimate trap, as with Ralph, Tilly, and later, Lady Philippa.

STYLE

Narration

Narration refers to the telling of a series of events. The narration of World Without End is primarily chronological, moving forward in time, with the time established at the outset of each of its major sections. Its point of view—the perspective from which the author tells the story—is third person omniscient. This means that the story is told from a “godlike” perspective so that the narrator can look into the minds of the characters and move back and forth in time and place. Follett's narration is very conventional in this sense. The reader can follow the story easily without being led astray by competing points of view.

Setting

Setting is another important element in historical novels such as World Without End. Setting refers to the time, place, and culture in which the story takes place and to the geography in which the story unfolds. Follett establishes the geography of Kingsbridge and its surrounding towns and rural areas so that the reader can track the activity of the plague as it spreads from continental Europe into England and eventually makes its way to Kingsbridge. Another key element of the setting involves the collapse of the bridge, which isolates Kingsbridge from visitors and shuts off the main source of its income.

Setting also includes detailed descriptions of cultural attitudes and historical events that affect the lives of characters, another important aspect of World Without End. In this respect, the layout of the nunnery, the monastery, and the church itself reinforces the tension the reader sees between the nuns and the monks. The rules become more stringent as the power shifts to Godwyn. Also important is the contrast between the town and

TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY

Imagine that a movie is being made of World Without End and that you have been asked to direct it. How would the movie begin and end? How would it differ from the book? How long would it be? What actors would play the key roles, and why?
Ken Follett has been commended for making his “bad” characters complex and interesting. Write a brief essay on one of those “bad” characters (Ralph, Godwyn, Philemon), describing that character's motivations and any elements that surprise them.
Using your library and Internet, find out more about the spread of the Black Plague and the onset of the Hundred Years' War between England and France. Compare the historical accounts you read with Follett's fictional one. Write a paper explaining what you learn from Follett that is absent from the historical accounts and vice versa?
Break into groups and go to the library to research one of the following aspects of fourteenth-century life: shelter, food, health and health care, and politics (each group should have a different topic). Prepare a presentation for the class based on what your group finds out.
Ken Follett clearly establishes some characters as heroes and others as villains, but he also makes his minor characters memorable. Think of some examples of minor characters (Mattie Wise, Mark Webber, Bessie Bell, and others), identify them by profession, and describe the role each plays in the story and in the social structure of the town.
Characters in World Without End are referred to as “old” when they are in their forties. What is the average life expectancy today in the United States, and what has contributed to this greater longevity?
In fourteenth-century England, as described by Follett, doctors were mostly monks who studied ancient texts while at Oxford. How is that different from the education required of doctors today?

the forest established at the outset when the main characters meet as children. Later in the story, the forest is an important means of escape for the monks in their departure from Kingsbridge after the plague hits, and also serves as the setting for Ralph's prolonged outlaw period. The emphasis on setting also ties into the distance individual characters must cover when they are forced to travel to another town by foot.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The Black Death

The bubonic plague—also called the Black Death—killed an estimated two-thirds of Europe's population in the years from 1347 to 1351. Another account, by noted historian George Macaulay Trevelyan, holds that the plague reduced the inhabitants of England at that time from 4,000,000 to 2,500,000 over a period of sixteen months. The disease was contracted in two forms: either through the bloodstream or through the respiratory system. Although many believe the disease was spread from rats and fleas to humans, its origin remains uncertain. The high death toll from the plague affected every aspect of life in fourteenth-century England, as no one was immune, including royalty. Violence, thievery, and debauchery were rampant during this time of upheaval. Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, an Italian literary classic, describes in vivid detail through first-person narrative the effects of the plague on Boccaccio's native Florence. In enclosed spaces such as monasteries, the death of one person usually meant the eventual death of all.

According to Barbara Tuchman in her historical study A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, “peasants dropped dead on the roads, in the fields, [and] in their houses.” The death of laborers meant that harvesting was left undone and food was scarce, which in turn led to class struggle between laborers and landowners. Because government was often controlled at the parish level, with priors and bishops holding political sway, the belief in disease as a judgment by God on human sin was prevalent, and this attitude allowed disease to spread even faster. Whatever small breakthroughs occurred in treatment and prevention were called into question by this prominent belief in sin as the cause of disease.

The Reign of Edward III and the Start of the Hundred Years' War

Edward III ruled England from 1312 to 1377. He was crowned at the age of fourteen after the dethroning of his father, Edward II. The subsequent murder of Edward II forms part of the background behind the events in World Without End. Edward III was later proclaimed the King of Scotland on the basis of further political maneuvering, and his claim to be sovereign of France started what later became known as the “Hundred Years' War.” The British victory over the French at Crecy in 1346 is described in World Without End. The battle itself was historically important for introducing the use of the longbow, which was wielded by massive numbers of archers on the British side. The French were devastated by this defeat, and the enmity between the two countries became fierce. The campaign of Edward III to take over other countries stemmed partly from a belief in “just war” as a necessity to keep the economy healthy, particularly with respect to the wool trade.

CRITICAL OVERVIEW

Readers who devoured Ken Follett's earlier historic volume, Pillars of the Earth, made it a bestseller after its publication in 1989 and waited impatiently for its sequel, which finally arrived in 2007. World Without End soon achieved bestseller status, with sixteen weeks on the “ten best” list of the New York Times, although one critic expressed the view of many that it “comes perilously close to fulfilling the promise of its title” (Stephen O'Shea, Los Angeles Times). Other reviewers have called it an entertaining and engrossing reading experience and commented on Follett's use of period detail. One problem faced by historical novelists is how to deal with dialogue for contemporary readers. Follett's way of handling this challenge is to have his characters converse in language as it is spoken today. Another challenge is to include key elements of history while maintaining the flow of the story, and Follett is noted for his success in this area. A reviewer for Library Journal noted that World Without End “is not a book to be devoured in one sitting, tempting though that may be, but one to savor for its drama, depth and richness.”

CRITICISM

Sue Russell

Sue Russell's literary essays and reviews have appeared in such publications as The Kenyon Review, Library Journal, Poets and Writers, and The Readerville Journal. She earned an M.F.A. in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh, where she also served as an adjunct instructor. In this essay, Russell explores the ways in which Ken Follett uses his four key characters to convey a sense of history from four different perspectives.

In World Without End, Ken Follett engages the contemporary reader in an earlier time through the implicit comparison between then—in this case fourteenth-century England—and now. The fictional town of Kingsbridge, with a cathedral at its center, is a little world—or microcosm—that is complete in itself. As readers, we experience history from the inside of that little world as it affects the inhabitants, and the limited avenues for communication in that era dictate the boundaries of their frame of reference. History, as presented in World Without End, is grounded in what the characters can see and experience. Although the point of view remains third-person omniscient (the narrator can see inside the mind of the characters and can shift back and forth in time), each segment of the book is “attached” to one of four key characters we first meet as children: Gwenda, Caris, Merthin, and Ralph. Each of these characters presents a different angle on what the future holds for the little world of Kingsbridge and for the larger world outside.

Follett establishes the role of each of these characters from the moment they enter the story. The first sentence of Chapter 1 introduces the reader to Gwenda, who “was eight years old, but [she] was not afraid of the dark.” The reader sees what Gwenda sees, from her perspective as a small child in a sea of bigger adults. Although it would still be too early for a reader to draw any definitive conclusions, Follett gives us sufficient evidence to infer the kind of adult Gwenda will turn out to be: one who is not afraid, who sees clearly, who will do what needs to be done, and whose word can be trusted. Gwenda, under instruction from her no-good father Joby, is about to steal the coin purse hanging from the belt of one of those tall male strangers. This action starts the machinations of the plot, as the money belongs to Sir Gerald, the father of two of the other key characters, Merthin and Ralph.

Soon after the reader meets Gwenda, Merthin enters the story at the age of eleven, along with his brother Ralph. Merthin is “a year older than his brother Ralph; but to his intense annoyance, Ralph was taller and stronger.” In this sentence Follett establishes the dynamic between the two brothers. Merthin has made the bow that his brother will use for archery practice and an unexpected small-scale battle scene. Merthin is the inventor, while Ralph is the man of action. We know more about Ralph from what Merthin sees than we do from Ralph himself, who lacks insight into the consequences of his actions and will literally and figuratively get away with murder. Merthin, in contrast, will become an accomplished builder. He has the foresight to imagine a life beyond his own and to construct buildings that will last for generations to come. Today we might know him as an architect or engineer.

Next the reader encounters Caris, who can be considered the heroine of the story by virtue of the number of pages on which she appears and the magnitude of her talents and influence. Again, one sentence reveals who she is and what she brings to the story. Caris's first words to Merthin, even before we learn her name, relate to that archer's bow. She asks, “How did you know how to make it?” Caris will always want to figure out the “how” and “why” for herself. Her desire to know and to understand the world serves as another bridge between “then” (the time of the novel) and “now” (the time of the reader). Merthin and Caris are intellectually curious. It is clear that these two characters are meant for each other in spite of the abundance of hardships they will encounter along the way.

With these well-drawn characters as “agents” of the story, Follett does not need to stop the action to give us lessons in history and geography. In the confines of the novel, we know geography as the distance Gwenda walks by foot to deliver an important message to her son and from the route the plague travels by sea and land as it spreads toward Kingsbridge. As readers, we also understand that the disease travels faster than the news itself, which is limited to word of mouth. Thus, escape, if it comes too late, is most likely doomed to fail.

The plague epidemic, the Hundred Years' War, and the reign of Edward III are the major historical events affecting England in what popular historian Barbara Tuchman has called “the calamitous fourteenth century.” These events frame Follett's narrative chronology and the lives of the characters he has developed, allowing the reader who is interested to inquire further. Caris plays a small part in moving the field of medicine into the future as we know it. Her understanding of the scientific process and her observations about contagious disease lead her to formulate a plan for prevention when the plague returns for a second round. On a larger scale, Follett includes the crucial battle between the British and the French at Crecy, in which Ralph is a hero. The characters cannot know, however, as we do, that this one battle is only the beginning of what will later be called the Hundred Years' War between England and France. With respect to the reign of Edward III and the Edwards before him, Follett amplifies suspense through the gradual revelation of a scandal that seems credible based on what we know about the behavior of monarchs through historical and literary texts.

One of the most important characters in World Without End is Kingsbridge Cathedral itself, the existence of which transports the reader from the past of Follett's earlier Kingsbridge novel, Pillars of the Earth set two hundred years earlier, into the lifespan of the current novel and beyond that into the time we imagine to follow after we turn the last page. Buildings, like people, change with time as their flaws are revealed, and possibly corrected. The spire Merthin designs and finally completes near the end of the novel offers a sweeping view of the world beyond Kingsbridge and brings with it the potential for civic pride.

The cathedral is another little world within the larger world of the town, another circle within a larger circle. The monks and nuns who inhabit it function as two separate communities, and their very separateness is a source of conflict that never dissipates but only changes with each new cast of characters. The other important conflict established through the presence of the cathedral is that of governance. The church wields power in the livelihood of the town, and often dictates the rules of society. Caris, for one, sees this power as excessive and proposes a borough council that will represent more truly the interests of the local merchants and lay public. The line between church and state is now a global concern, with deeply felt beliefs on all sides and frightening repercussions.

WHAT DO I READ NEXT?

Ken Follett's earlier Kingsbridge novel, Pillars of the Earth, was published in 1989. It focuses on the building of the cathedral two hundred years before the events in World Without End.
In Chapel of Bones (2005), one of several historical murder mysteries in Michael Jecks' Knights Templar series, the murder in question takes place in Exeter Cathedral.
Judith Healey, in her debut novel The Canterbury Papers (2003), set in the thirteenth century, explores the power dynamics in the relationship between families in England and France.

This analogy between “then” and “now” is at the heart of the reader's experience of World Without End. As social constructs, novels give us a context for understanding our own relationships and our relationship to the larger communities in which we live and work. They show us bad marriages and good marriages, dysfunctional families and functional ones, unfair labor practices and work environments that foster personal growth. These relationships interest Follett as well and make the past his characters inhabit seem a lot less distant.

Source: Sue Russell, Critical Essay on World Without End, in Literary Newsmakers for Students, Gale, Cengage Learning, 2009.

Stephen O'Shea

In the following review, O'Shea concludes that Ken Follett's World without End is a highly readable, if occasionally flawed, novel.

At more than 1,000 pages, Ken Follett's World Without End comes perilously close to fulfilling the promise of its title. The second of the thriller writer's medieval novels, this new super-sized story inspires the same question posed by its doorstop predecessor: Too fat to pick up, or too engrossing to put down? Naturally the author plumps for the latter: Sure of interest in the project, he invited a crew to film him writing the monster, and the program aired in his native Britain last month.

All this excess will delight the Follett faithful, accustomed to his whipsaw plotting and repeated recourse to violence and rapine. Like his previous medieval effort, The Pillars of the Earth (his most popular book to date), World Without End makes for giddy chutes-and-ladders reading; no situation can be reversed too often, no conflict resolved without serial surprises. Follett's Middle Ages—bestial, political, venal—are relentlessly eventful.

The setting is Kingsbridge, a stout market town in the heart of England whose 12th century cathedral builders were put through the Follett wringer in Pillars. Now comes the turn of their descendants, as the novel follows four principals through the first half of the calamitous 14th century. Two spirited women—one a stubborn and lovesick serf, the other a preternaturally intelligent merchant's daughter—lead tempestuous lives intertwined with those of two sons of a ruined nobleman. One boy becomes a master architect; the other, rotten to the core, rises in the ranks of the aristocracy through the application of strategic atrocity. As children, these four witnessed a murder on which the kingdom's fate hinged; as adults, they struggle for power and position amid the interest groups in the town: monastery, nunnery and merchants' guild.

While the story zigzags mostly around this foursome and their weddings and beddings, along the way Follett has his many characters work out the mechanics of medieval bridge building, wool dyeing, market trading, medicinal bleeding and tax levying. These nuts-and-bolts dialogues are edifying, even if at times the enterprising townspeople sound, alas, like the guileless problem solvers of “The Magic School Bus.” Where Follett excels, however, is in the dramatization of the politics of clergymen versus burghers versus nobles—the constant tug of war that made medieval life as contentious as our age of litigation. Monastic politics, for example, usually come coated with dust in academic histories; here, thanks to Follett's breezy, anachronistic style, the obscure infighting is fresh and diverting. Thus we are treated to the memorable prior of the monastery in Kingsbridge, incompetent at everything save acquiring and maintaining power, and his Karl Rove-like sidekick, adept at playing dirty tricks and sliming reputations. Like the current White House, the two move from one catastrophic decision to the next, all the while maintaining the upper hand.

So, what actually happens? In the first half, the central stake is the governance of Kingsbridge and its revenue-generating fleece fair. The bright merchant's daughter, Caris, and her paramour architect, Merthin, struggle to free the town from monastic control and its hidebound devotion to tradition. Follett shows how effervescent the medieval era was, with trade expanding and new ideas cautiously being floated. The lovers' ambitions are thwarted when Caris, accused of heresy, is forced into a convent, upon which the heartbroken Merthin decamps to seek his fortune in Florence. Unbowed, Caris journeys to France with a beautiful lesbian nun and accidentally witnesses the Battle of Crecy, the kickoff to the Hundred Years' War. Mayhem connoisseurs will rejoice at this reconstruction.

Into the narrative roars the Black Death, reshuffling, or rather halving, the deck and allowing the survivors a chance to hatch new schemes and couple with new partners. It will come as no shock to his readers that Follett, whose flair for nonconsensual-sex scenes borders on the distressing, lingers on the hideous symptoms and agonies of plague victims. In a more seemly vein, he demonstrates how the epidemic changed the lives of peasants, who suddenly had bargaining power as a result of the labor shortage. In the wake of the plague, the perpetually luckless serf Gwenda finally manages to outmaneuver her rapist overlord, who is none other than Merthin's ne'er-do-well brother, Ralph.

In the dizzying spiral of the book's latter half, Caris more or less invents modern medicine in her convent plague hospital in Kingsbridge. Merthin, now a rich widower, returns to town. Ralph, a hero of Crecy and thus in royal favor, extorts, bludgeons and abuses with abandon.

Couples are made and unmade, ghastly comeuppances dished out and a swarm of subplots finally put to sleep, until at last a gay bishop and his lover (both French, of course) come to see the innate reasonableness of the townspeople, who are led by Merthin and Caris, united by love and brains.

Stretch plausibility as it may, World Without End remains a breathless entertainment, and one with few pretensions to faithfully re-creating the Middle Ages. (That feat was perhaps best achieved in Zoé Oldenbourg's 1946 classic, The World Is Not Enough.)

Serious medievalists may sniff and literary novelists howl, but legions of readers will go along for the ride—needing nothing more than a strong pair of wrists to lift the darn thing and, if I may make a suggestion, a very big bowl of popcorn.

Source: StephenO'Shea, “Book Review: World Without End by Ken Follett,” in Los Angeles Times, October 12, 2007, p. 1.

Peter Pierce

In the following article, Pierce praises World Without End as pleasant, if not necessarily intellecutal, reading.

In 1327, in a forest outside the cathedral city of Kingsbridge, two men are killed and a potentially devastating letter is hidden. Its contents would turn England upside down.

In World Without End, Ken Follett makes us wait for more than 1000 pages before the letter's secret is confided. This is historical fiction-making in the grand manner, although the novel is composed in an essentially conventional mode. Follett's book begins two centuries after The Pillars of the Earth (in which the building of the cathedral was related). Since this chronicle of the later Middle Ages encompasses the most terrible European century before the 20th—with strife, dearth, pestilence, the Hundred Years War and the Black Death—a very large cast of characters is assembled, for their attrition rate is bound to be high.

Key personnel are Ralph, who will be variously murderer, rapist, outlaw, soldier and Earl of Shiring; his brother, Merthin, who will become one of the master builders of Europe; the independent-spirited Caris, who dreams of becoming a female physician in a world that will not countenance them; and—equally redoubtable in her humbler sphere—Gwenda, who marries the good serf, Wulfric.

Most historical fiction of the past few decades is revisionist in this particular issue: the formative agency of women is emphasised. They are written back into the record, whether real actors such as Queen Isabella, who deposed her husband, Edward II, or Follett's characters—Caris, Gwenda and the Lady Philippa, forced to marry Ralph but who through suffering will outwit and defeat him.

The historical dialectic of World Without End is a well-tried one: the new social and intellectual order tries to supplant the old, whose hold proves tenacious. Kingsbridge is uneasily managed by the usually opposed forces of the priory and the guilds.

The former is “narrow, conservative, mistrustful of new ideas, careless of the interests of the townspeople”. The ecclesiastical world fears and suppresses change. The mercantile world—embodied by Follett in Merthin—embraces it, seeking to force the future into being.

The villains of such a reckoning are bound to be on the conservative side, whether noblemen asserting their rights over serfs and servant girls or ambitious clergy who resist any erosion of their privilege, or questioning of their authority. Ralph is a blunt, vicious villain of the first type; Gwenda's brother Philemon, who is full of “the anxiety and self-hatred of the fawning toady”, of the second.

In the background are doughty labourers, wise women who run the risk of denunciation as witches, fanatics and flagellants and fornicators of all kinds. Exuberantly animated, Follett's slice of medieval history perhaps relies more on stock types rather than individuals, as people are named for their occupations. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, set in this period, audaciously fused them. Yet Follett's invention of incident-packed misadventures never flags.

We are also treated to medieval accounting, agriculture, architecture (especially), economics, law and medicine. Conveying so much information, committed to an action-driven narrative, Follett wisely chooses a very plain idiom, neither pseudo-medieval, nor slangishly modern. His command of the design of his book is as impressive as Merthin's construction of the tallest building in England.

It's been a long, self-renewing journey for Follett from the lean World War II espionage thriller, Eye of the Needle, to historical pageant on his present extravagant scale. No doubt some readers will think of this door-stopper as a “Book Without End”. Others will remember the word that concludes the prayer that furnishes World Without End with its title: “Amen”.

Nonetheless, many will rejoice in the prodigal, sustained creative drive that makes reading this book an experience of pleasant, if not intellectually bracing immersion. Big as it is, World Without End is physically not too hard to manage. It is a tax on time mainly well worth while.

Source: Peter Pierce, “A historical picture that rewards on a grand scale,” in Sydney Morning Herald, October 15, 2007, p. 1.