Kingsbridge

Kingsbridge is the fictional English medieval town at the center of Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series — cathedral city, site of struggle between Church and crown, and the setting across which Follett traces eight hundred years of English history through the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. The series began with The Pillars of the Earth (1989), which follows the construction of a gothic cathedral across the twelfth century, and has expanded across subsequent novels into later periods of English history.

The Pillars of the Earth is one of the best-selling historical novels ever written — a book that took Follett twelve years to complete and that transformed his career from thriller writer to historical novelist of the first rank. Its portrayal of medieval architecture, church politics, and the violence of the period is rendered with extraordinary research depth and genuine narrative drive.

Each Kingsbridge novel stands alone while sharing the setting and occasionally connecting through families descended from earlier characters. The town itself — its cathedral, its wool trade, its political geography — develops across the series as Follett traces the long arc of English history.

Begin with The Pillars of the Earth (1989). One of the great works of popular historical fiction.