He shows lectors that no religion is better than others and that, some time or another, all faiths have wanted to kill each other.

Ken Follet manages to accomplish another of his aims. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, 1572 (New York Public Library) We can see, therefore, that religious respect began to matter in the 16th century. She promised more tolerance toward religion, but the Catholic Church, with the support of Spain and France, tried, by all means, to stop her. Elisabeth assumed the throne when Mary died. This monarch burned lots of Protestants at the stake. When the narrative begins, Queen Mary is reigning. The book is located in an era where Catholics and Protestants battled against each other aggressively. A Column of Fire shows how religious tolerance began to impose itself among European citizens. “The heroes of my story are those who say: killing people for their beliefs is wrong”, says Ken Follet in an interview for “El País”. Therefore, one of the principal topics that can be found in the book is religion.

The story is focused on the religious wars of the 16th century in Europe. The writer Ken Follet in Seville, one of the cities that appear in A Column of Fire – ABC At the beginning of the book, Rollo will find out the way to stop his sister Margery from marrying Ned. Moreover, all along the book, there is a romantic story between Ned and Margery, Rollo’s sister, who is a devout Catholic. As his antagonist we find Rollo Fitzgerald, a convinced Catholic that will spend all his life trying to end with Queen’s mandate in order to destroy the Protestant faith. Ned will eventually start working for the Queen Elisabeth and he will be a part of the Queen’s secret service. First of all we have Ned Willard, a moderate Protestant who fights in favour of religious tolerance. As is usual for historical novels, the author centres the principal historical events on a group of imaginary characters. Natàlia Puigtió Bernaus | column of fire, Ken Follett’s latest novel, is half historic epic, half thriller. A Column of Fire, a tedious history lesson

A column of fire book review