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Follett's fifth Kingsbridge novel to publish in September
Ken Follett’s fifth Kingsbridge novel, The Armour of Light, will be published in September.
Jeremy Trevathan, m.d. Pan Macmillan adult division, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, directly from the Follett Office. The Armour of Light, will be published worldwide on 26th September. Rights have been sold in 19 languages and the book will be published by Viking in the US.
The publisher said: “Set during the Industrial Revolution, this fifth Kingsbridge novel completes a wider eight-volume cycle that masterfully chronicles the last thousand years of Western civilisation.
“The Armour of Light begins in the fictional town of Kingsbridge at the end of the 18th century. It tells of a group of linked families whose lives are turned upside-down by the new age of machinery. Follett’s characters are involved in bread riots, strikes and violent resistance to forced recruitment to the military. The British parliament meets protest with repressive new laws that make it a crime to criticise the government.
“The strife and brutality of the Industrial Revolution is intensified by a 23-year war between Britain and France—a war that reaches its climax at the battle of Waterloo. As always, Follett highlights the roles played by women in both peace and war.”
Follett’s five Kingsbridge books plus the three in the Century trilogy chart the development of the West from the reign of Ethelred the Unready to the election of President Obama. The seven novels already published have sold a total of 76 million copies, the publisher said.
Follett said: “I didn’t plan it this way, I just scoured the past for exciting stories that showed ordinary people coping with the changing tides of history. And then I began to see that the novels stand together as a body of work. I’m fascinated by how people have struggled for freedom—and won. Most of my stories are about just that. The issue underlying The Armour of Light is freedom of speech.”
Trevathan added: "This year Ken celebrates 50 years of publishing and we couldn’t be happier that in turn we celebrate this momentous event with a brand new Kingsbridge novel. Ken’s ability to capture the everyman’s journey through different historical periods is unparalleled. He has proven time and again with his extensive body of work that his ability to create impactful human stories that resonate with dramatic historical detail is second to none.
“In The Armour of Light Ken has once more tapped this rich vein to create a brilliantly evocative story set against the backdrop of an England whose rural culture is shrinking as the Industrial Revolution unfolds and as an international war with France plays out to its seismic conclusion. It reverberates with compassion, wit, excitement and page-turning drama and once again Ken proves that he is the consummate storyteller.”
