Ken Follett detours from his well-known and beloved suspense with The Pillars of the Earth, a novel in which he creates a Middle Ages English world with sumptuous historical detail in all of its crude, vast glory. Revolving around the lives of those working to build the most amazing Gothic cathedral in the world, Follett explores their ambitions, loves, and tribulations as they work to build a monument that will endure the test of time.