This is one of those big doorstops that you wish was even bigger when you get to the end. I've always enjoyed Follett's thrillers, 'The Key to Rebecca' and 'Eye of the Needle' especially, but this one is so much more. Yes, it ends up frequently in the Mystery/Thriller section but it's actually a brilliant work of historical fiction. The plot revolves around the building of a cathedral and that's all I'm going to tell you.
Set in twelfth-century England, this epic of kings and peasants juxtaposes the building of a magnificent church with the violence and treachery that often characterized the Middle Ages