-
The Pillars of the Earth
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 40 hrs and 56 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $36.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known...of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect - a man divided in his soul...of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame...and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, and brother against brother.
A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of 12th century England, this is Ken Follett's historical masterpiece.
Critic reviews
"Follett is a master." (The Washington Post)
"A historical novel of gripping readability, authentic atmosphere and detail and memorable characterization." (Publishers Weekly)
Featured Article: The Best Historical Fiction Audiobooks
Often based on real people, events, and scenarios, historical fiction gives us the opportunity to learn about worlds and times we will never experience while introducing fascinating characters and stories set in their midst. Sometimes, the genre can even give us a peek into hidden storylines that routinely go unmentioned in traditional history books, showing us that those of ages past are perhaps not so different from ourselves.
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Pillars of the Earth
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Richard E. Grant
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known...of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect - a man divided in his soul...of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame...and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, and brother against brother.
-
-
Get the Unabridged
- By Olivia on 01-28-08
By: Ken Follett
-
Eye of the Needle
- A Novel
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
His code name was “The Needle.” He was a German aristocrat of extraordinary intelligence - a master spy with a legacy of violence in his blood, and the object of the most desperate manhunt in history.... But his fate lay in the hands of a young and vulnerable English woman, whose loyalty, if swayed, would assure his freedom - and win the war for the Nazis....
-
-
All-time great thriller, great reader, great idea
- By Glenn Hopp on 03-14-21
By: Ken Follett
-
A Place Called Freedom
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This lush novel, set in 1766 England and America, evokes an era ripe with riot and revolution, from the teeming streets of London to the sprawling grounds of a Virginia plantation. Mack McAsh burns with the desire to escape his life of slavery in Scottish coal mines while Lizzie Hallim is desperate to shed a life of sheltered subjugation to her spineless husband. United in America, their only chance for freedom lies beyond the Western frontier - if they're brave enough to take it.
-
-
Expected better than a historical romance
- By Lynette Garet on 01-09-17
By: Ken Follett
-
Never
- A Novel
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 23 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Never is an extraordinary novel, full of heroines and villains, false prophets and elite warriors, jaded politicians and opportunistic revolutionaries. It brims with cautionary wisdom for our times, and delivers a visceral, heart-pounding story that transports listeners to the brink of the unimaginable.
-
-
I'll NEVER get through this one
- By Georgia on 11-11-21
By: Ken Follett
-
The Key to Rebecca
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Tim Downie
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A brilliant and ruthless Nazi master agent is on the loose in Cairo. His mission is to send Rommel’s advancing army the secrets that will unlock the city’s doors. In all of Cairo, only two people can stop him. One is a down-on-his-luck English officer no one will listen to. The other is a vulnerable young Jewish girl....
-
-
Christ the Savior
- By camille hobbs on 03-23-21
By: Ken Follett
-
Night over Water
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Tom Casaletto
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a bright September morning in 1939, two days after Britain declares war on Germany, a group of privileged but desperate people gather in Southhampton to board the largest, most luxurious airliner ever built - the Pan American Clipper - bound for New York.
-
-
Fun Listen
- By Daniel McAfee on 07-11-08
By: Ken Follett
-
The Pillars of the Earth
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Richard E. Grant
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known...of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect - a man divided in his soul...of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame...and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, and brother against brother.
-
-
Get the Unabridged
- By Olivia on 01-28-08
By: Ken Follett
-
Eye of the Needle
- A Novel
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
His code name was “The Needle.” He was a German aristocrat of extraordinary intelligence - a master spy with a legacy of violence in his blood, and the object of the most desperate manhunt in history.... But his fate lay in the hands of a young and vulnerable English woman, whose loyalty, if swayed, would assure his freedom - and win the war for the Nazis....
-
-
All-time great thriller, great reader, great idea
- By Glenn Hopp on 03-14-21
By: Ken Follett
-
A Place Called Freedom
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This lush novel, set in 1766 England and America, evokes an era ripe with riot and revolution, from the teeming streets of London to the sprawling grounds of a Virginia plantation. Mack McAsh burns with the desire to escape his life of slavery in Scottish coal mines while Lizzie Hallim is desperate to shed a life of sheltered subjugation to her spineless husband. United in America, their only chance for freedom lies beyond the Western frontier - if they're brave enough to take it.
-
-
Expected better than a historical romance
- By Lynette Garet on 01-09-17
By: Ken Follett
-
Never
- A Novel
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 23 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Never is an extraordinary novel, full of heroines and villains, false prophets and elite warriors, jaded politicians and opportunistic revolutionaries. It brims with cautionary wisdom for our times, and delivers a visceral, heart-pounding story that transports listeners to the brink of the unimaginable.
-
-
I'll NEVER get through this one
- By Georgia on 11-11-21
By: Ken Follett
-
The Key to Rebecca
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Tim Downie
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A brilliant and ruthless Nazi master agent is on the loose in Cairo. His mission is to send Rommel’s advancing army the secrets that will unlock the city’s doors. In all of Cairo, only two people can stop him. One is a down-on-his-luck English officer no one will listen to. The other is a vulnerable young Jewish girl....
-
-
Christ the Savior
- By camille hobbs on 03-23-21
By: Ken Follett
-
Night over Water
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Tom Casaletto
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a bright September morning in 1939, two days after Britain declares war on Germany, a group of privileged but desperate people gather in Southhampton to board the largest, most luxurious airliner ever built - the Pan American Clipper - bound for New York.
-
-
Fun Listen
- By Daniel McAfee on 07-11-08
By: Ken Follett
-
A Dangerous Fortune
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1866, tragedy strikes the exclusive Windfield School when a young student drowns in a mysterious accident. His death and its aftermath initiate a spiraling circle of treachery that will span three decades and entwine many lives. From the exclusive men’s clubs and brothels that cater to every dark desire of London’s upper class to the dazzling ballrooms and mahogany-paneled suites of the manipulators of the world’s wealth, one family is splintered by a shared legacy.
-
-
Predictable Fun
- By Rebecarol on 05-24-08
By: Ken Follett
-
The Man from St. Petersburg
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
His name was Feliks. He came to London to commit a murder that would change history. A master manipulator, he had many weapons at his command, but against him were ranged the whole of the English police, a brilliant and powerful lord, and the young Winston Churchill himself. These odds would have stopped any man in the world - except the man from St. Petersburg.
-
-
Riveting historical fiction
- By Thomas P. O'Connor on 04-14-21
By: Ken Follett
-
The Cuckoo's Calling
- By: Robert Galbraith
- Narrated by: Robert Glenister
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he’s living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry - known to her friends as the Cuckoo - famously fell to her death a few months earlier.
-
-
Unbelievable debut mystery set in London
- By Tracey on 05-26-13
By: Robert Galbraith
-
Triple
- A Novel
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Raza Jaffrey
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Egypt comes closer and closer to developing a nuclear bomb, the Mossad’s number one Israeli agent is given an impossible mission: to beat the Arabs in the nuclear arms race by finding and stealing two hundred tons of uranium. The world’s balance of power will shift. And the Mossad, the KGB, the Egyptians, and Fedayeen terrorists will play out the final, violent moves in this devastating game where the price of failure is a nuclear holocaust....
-
-
Triple poorly performed
- By Jpop on 03-13-21
By: Ken Follett
-
The Witching Hour
- By: Anne Rice
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 50 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of four centuries of witches - a family given to poetry and incest, murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being called Lasher who haunts the Mayfair women. Moving in time from today's New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and the France of Louis XIV, from the coffee plantations of Port-au-Prince to Civil War New Orleans and back to today, Anne Rice has spun a mesmerizing tale.
-
-
THANK YOU AUDIBLE!
- By Wendy on 10-22-15
By: Anne Rice
-
Jackdaws
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat, Colin Stinton
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
D-Day is approaching. They don’t know where or when, but the Germans know it’ll be soon, and for Felicity "Flick" Clariet, the stakes have never been higher. A senior agent in the ranks of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) responsible for sabotage, Flick has survived to become one of Britain’s most effective operatives in Northern France. She knows that the Germans’ ability to thwart the Allied attack depends upon their lines of communications, and in the days before the invasion, no target is of greater strategic importance than the largest telephone exchange in Europe.
-
-
Disappointing
- By vxdvxn on 10-25-10
By: Ken Follett
-
Lonesome Dove
- By: Larry McMurtry
- Narrated by: Lee Horsley
- Length: 36 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two retired Texas Rangers, Captains Woodrow Call and Augustus "Gus" McCrae, lead a cattle drive from the small town of Lonesome Dove to the unsettled Montana territories. On their grueling journey, they are joined by Joshua Deets, a Black scout and former Ranger, Jake Spoon, a fugitive, and Newt Dobbs, a 17-year-old boy who may have family ties to Call. Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove will make listeners laugh and weep, dream and remember.
-
-
Not the full book
- By Lindsey Quaine on 05-17-22
By: Larry McMurtry
-
The Hammer of Eden
- A Novel
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The FBI doesn't believe it. The governor wants the problem to disappear. But Agent Judy Maddox knows the threat is real: an extreme group of ecoterrorists has the means and the know-how to set off a massive earthquake of epic proportions. For California, time is running out. Now Maddox is scrambling to hunt down a petty criminal turned cult leader turned homicidal mastermind. Because she knows that the dying has already begun.
-
-
A Change In Time and Naive Revenge
- By Empress Karen on 03-22-18
By: Ken Follett
-
The Stand
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 47 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides - or are chosen.
-
-
My First Completed Stephen King Novel
- By Meaghan Bynum on 02-20-12
By: Stephen King
-
The Gray Man
- By: Mark Greaney
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Court Gentry is known as The Gray Man—a legend in the covert realm, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible, and then fading away. And he always hits his target. But there are forces more lethal than Gentry in the world. And in their eyes, Gentry has just outlived his usefulness. Now, he is going to prove that for him, there's no gray area between killing for a living-and killing to stay alive.
-
-
The gray man talks about gentry in the 3rd person on the court
- By Safekeeper on 07-26-17
By: Mark Greaney
-
Hornet Flight
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's June 1941, and the low point of the war. England throws wave after wave of RAF bombers across the Channel, but somehow the Luftwaffe is able to shoot them down at will. The skies, indeed, the war itself seem to belong to Hitler.
-
-
An Outstanding Spy Novel
- By C. McCoy on 03-13-05
By: Ken Follett
-
Lie Down with Lions
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Eric Lincoln, Lary Bradenburg, Donald Brearley, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ellis, the American. Jean-Pierre, the Frenchman.... They were two men on opposite sides of the cold war, with a woman torn between them. Together, they formed a triangle of passion and deception, racing from terrorist bombs in Paris to the violence and intrigue of Afghanistan - and on to the moment of truth and a deadly decision for all of them.
-
-
makes me want my money back
- By tannk on 09-30-08
By: Ken Follett
What listeners say about The Pillars of the Earth
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Joseph
- 01-09-10
Good historical setting, but loose story.
I read this when it came out, because I was a graduate student of medieval history at the time, and now I've heard it on audiobook. Some aspects of the work are very impressive, others are rather simplistic pop fiction, but overall it's a rewarding book, and the performance is impressive, considering how long John Lee has to keep your attention with his reading.
The aspect of the book I loved most was the setting and the technical details. It recreates a medieval world, from the economy of the villages to the politics of the monastery, with intricate and impressive detail on the building of the cathedral and the changing architectural styles and challenges. That alone is worth the listen.
The story--as he himself has described it--is a series of melodramas over a couple of generations, some of which take the whole book to develop, some of which are settled as they go, much like a Victor Hugo novel, but without the great writing and complex insight. The tales themselves sound more like 20th century dramas than medieval lives. There are few of the moral dilemmas medieval literature dwells on, and you could just drop the same stories into modern England without much change beyond clothing and settings. Add a few cell phones and IPods, and you're good to go.
Overall, I recommend it. Four stars, because I can't give three and a half. The setting is worth the listen, and the melodramas are emotionally engaging even if not very medieval. It's long pop fiction with a more sophisticated setting. If you want a modern novel in a well-researched medieval setting, this is it. If you want historical fiction that recreates the emotional and intellectual psyche of the time, this is not it. Try Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" for that, I guess.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
211 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Reviewer A
- 12-28-07
Great Story
I really enjoyed this story. The characters are rich, you are given a full range of people who could be literary "good-guys" or "bad-guys". Their choices are interesting and the plot is full of turns and even suspense. I would have given this book five starts except a few things bothered me. First the author used quite a bit of foul language in the characters speech. If you are not bothered by four letter words you probably wont notice and enjoy the book just fine. Secondly, to make the antagonist even more sinister the author included several rape scenes with the antagonist enjoying his cruelty. The imaging was disturbing and again, if you are not sensitive to these kinds of scenes it wont be a problem. Over all the story was fantastic and a really interesting read. The book is very long and satisfying. I thought I would get bored but it was great. The reader also does a great job of bringing the different characters to life with different voices.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
92 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- E. Danner
- 12-24-07
Fantastic
I picked this book purely based on other peoples reviews, its really not the kind of thing that I am into but it was FANTASTIC! The narration is perfect, the story lines were a pleasure to follow. I was addicted to the book from the introduction onward, truly amazing.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
51 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Joyce
- 11-27-07
good listen
My only criticism is that the book is perhaps a bit too long. Not a lot too long...just a bit. There was a time towards the end that I felt it dragged. This is a wonderful example of historical fiction at it's best. Well researched, I learned a lot about the day to day life of 12th century England. The author manages to involve the characters in important historical events of the time. I recommend highly.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Kindle Customer
- 11-08-07
Pillars of the Earth
I have over 250 audiobooks in my library. This is by far the best book to which I have listened. It has all the elements that make a book exceptional. John Lee's reading makes you feel you are right there in medieval England. The characters are so real I never wanted the story to end. How lucky I am there is a sequel.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Karen
- 02-12-09
Don't give up . . . outstanding
While I'm not a huge Oprah fan (I don't think I've ever watched her show), the Oprah's book club isn't a bad place to start when looking for good novels to read (or listen to). As dull as the description of this one sounded (I'm really not into historical dramas), I gave it a chance mostly because of the Oprah recommendation AND because it was ridiculously long (at 40 hours). I have become addicted to audiobooks (the longer the better) because of a very long commute. I admit this is a slow start one--a little too much background to cover before the real story can begin--but don't give up. A few hours in, you are HOOKED. This is the kind of audiobook that you arrive at your destination and sit in the car a little while because you just CAN'T turn it off. Historically accurate (although with definite dramatic license), occasionally uncomfortably graphic and sexual for some tastes, but very, very good character development. You get to KNOW these people, and care deeply about then.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
16 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- B-Charlotte
- 12-11-07
Captivating
This was the best book I've ever listened to . I would come up with chores to do just so I could put my head phones on and listen. I finished Pillars last night and just downloaded World without End. I'm going to be seriously depressed when I finally have to leave the amazing world Ken Follett has created. Enjoy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
15 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Scott
- 02-29-08
Dark Age Intrigue
This is *not* just a book about pretty buildings. That would be dull. Follet writes thrillers. So this is a book about *lives* of the people who were all needed to create the towns that built the central cathedral to this book . There is the suspense involving wicked earls and evil bishops to hiss at as well a breathtaking love stories occurring around the building of the cathedral which takes nearly a lifetime. The narration is spot on including a nice brogue for the main monk. You get real insight into what life was like in "dark ages" when so many more people truly feared and revered God. There are so many elements, (this is a *full on novel*) but there *isn't* a single dull page! Follett carefully intertwines all his characters ending with a true historical event making it all the more realistic. There is a reason this is his best selling book, this is Follet's masterpiece. His reason for writing a book so out of his usual style is explained perfectly in his prologue. It has become a "word of mouth" success. Well, here are my words to encourage you. We audio book lovers can't get enough truly *good long books* since we listen as often as possible. Many have said, they "can put it down or "can't wait to listen to more". I felt the same. For all it delivers, the drama, the history, the insight and commitment it takes to build such a building, and the evil that threatens to stop it.... all make this book is a real value.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Me
- 11-05-07
Take a chance
I took a chance on this book. I almost let the dry sounding title, and the thing about the cathedral scare me off. This is a very entertaining book, and well narrated. It's less about monks and cathedrals, and more about the things people do, and the things that drive them. This is different than the usual Ken Follett, but then this is better than his rest. I am glad there is a sequel and am looking forward to it. I guess some authors can tell a good story regardless of subject. Enlightenment or edification, maybe not, good listen, yes.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Bonnie
- 07-31-08
A dark view of the dark ages
If you are looking for light reading, go else where. If you are a history buff, and can deal with the horror of England in it's dark age, this is for you evil and goodness at every level. I enjoyed every word of this unique story. Brilliant.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful