Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (1996, Paperback, Reissue)

So God said to Satan, ‘Look at my man, Job. Look at him. There’s a good man if I ever saw one…’. THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH, (1989), is a novel of epic proportions. A simple and righteous prior of a small village monastery wants to rebuild his fire-stricken church; a task that should not be very difficult to do with the right master builder. In a complex and hideous waves of events, his rebuilding of the church was delayed every time work continued. Although the main story revolved around building a cathedral—instead of a church—it displayed events that gave rise to weakness, strength, belief, diligence, laziness, hatred, love, righteousness, godlessness, adultery, passion, lies, betrayals, massacres, power, war, famine, peace, destruction, hope, justice and injustice, revenge, disappointment, destitution, misery, happiness, ruthlessness, deceit, treachery and plenty of gluttony. But in the Pillars of The Earth ‘weakness and scruples defeat ruthlessness’ and tyranny. The story begins around 1135 AD and carries on for over forty years. The book is almost 1000 pages and if one doesn’t have the patience, one is liable to put it down unfinished, and what a miss that would be. Ken Follett has written many exciting novels, but this one is a jewel.
Pillars of The Earth plainly illuminates the power of the Almighty and a test of mortal endurance; the power of humbleness. And Ken Follett presented it in a manner only fit by a seasoned writer.
NOTE: Some people gave this novel a poor mark because they did not have the endurance of reading the book, instead they listened to the CD (audio book). They complained the story was told fast and that they lost the trend of occurrences. My suggestion to them is to read the book and forget about listening to it.