The Evening and the Morning

This is the fourth book in Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series.  It is a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth and concerns the founding of the town of Kingsbridge.  At 916 pages it is definitely a chunkster but I love chunky books.  It was a fast read though.  I read it in two days. The Evening and the Morning was published last month on September 15, 2020.  

The story begins in the year 997 CE with the family of Edgar, his brothers Erman and Eadbald, and his parents living in Combe, Shiring Parish, in the west of England. Edgar's father is a well respected boat builder and Edgar hopes to inherit the business one day.  However, after a Viking raid, fire destroyed the entire town of Combe, including the boatyard. Edgar's father is also killed in the raid, leaving the family destitute.  Relying on the good graces of the Dean of Shiring, the family is given swamp land to cultivate and they start over as farmers in Dreng's Ferry. The farm is a mess and they can barely grow crops but they are able to eke out an existence during the rest of the year. Edgar plans to get his family settled and then leave two or three years later to find a job as a boat builder. The book is Edgar's story.

Among the four Kingsbridge novels I like this one is the best.  The Pillars of the Earth is my second favorite. While I loved Pillars, there were lengthy passages on construction that did not interest me. Given how much I liked Pillars, it just goes to show how well The Evening and The Morning was written. Also, the plot moved more smoothly with this novel than with Pillars. The period of time covered is only ten years and the lives of the characters are more entangled together. 

There were two other characters who were prominent to the novel. Brother Aldred is an English monk at Shiring Abbey. He joins the story while on his way home to England, after purchasing books on the continent for the scriptorium at his abbey. Ragna comes from a noble family in Cherbourg. After accepting a marriage proposal from the Ealdorman Wilwulf she travels to England to marry and live with her soon-to-be husband. Aldred and Ragna's lives intersect frequently as they share a common enemy with Edgar:  Bishop Wynstan, the main but not only villain and Wilwulf's brother.

The Evening and the Morning is a must read. 5 out of 5 stars!