The Armor of Light: A Novel (Kingsbridge Book 5)

The Spinning Jenny was invented in 1770, and with that, a new era of manufacturing and industry changed lives in all places within a generation. A world filled with unrest wrestles for keep watch over over this new world order: A mother’s husband is killed in a work accident because of negligence; a young woman fights to fund her school for impoverished children; a well-intentioned young man rapidly inherits a failing business; one man ruthlessly protects his wealth no matter the cost, the entire at the same time as war cries are heard from France, as Napoleon sets forth a violent master plan to transform emperor of the world. As institutions are challenged and toppled in unprecedented fashion, ripples of change ricochet through our characters’ lives as they are left to reckon with the future and a world they will have to rebuild from the ashes of war.

Over thirty years ago, Ken Follett published his most popular novel, The Pillars of the Earth. Now, with this electrifying addition to the Kingsbridge series we are plunged into the battlefield between compassion and greed, love and hate, progress and tradition. It is through each character that we are given a new perspective to the seismic shifts that shook the world in nineteenth-century Europe.