This 670 page novel was published on September 23, 2025. Ken Follett's Circle of Days is similar to his Knightsbridge series but instead it is a saga regarding the building of Stonehenge.
The publisher's summary:
Seft, a talented flint miner, walks the Great Plain in the high summer heat, to witness the rituals that signal the start of a new year. He is there to trade his stone at the Midsummer Fair, and to find Neen, the girl he loves. Her family lives in prosperity and offer Seft an escape from his brutish father and brothers within their herder community.
Joia, Neen’s sister, is a priestess with a vision and an unmatched ability to lead. As a child, she watches the Midsummer ceremony, enthralled, and dreams of a miraculous new monument, raised from the biggest stones in the world. But trouble is brewing among the hills and woodlands of the Great Plain.
Joia’s vision of a great stone circle, assembled by the divided tribes of the Plain, will inspire Seft and become their life’s work. But as drought ravages the earth, mistrust grows between the herders, farmers and woodlanders—and an act of savage violence leads to open warfare . . .
My first impression of this novel is WOW! It’s an incredibly captivating story with intriguing characters. Joia is a born diplomate. This trait helps her to gain consensus from her fellow priestesses and villagers when coming up with new practices for both groups of people. She is a strong female character and she is my favorite. Seft is also a strong character. Because his father and brothers were abusive, Seft left the family and everything he knew about flintmaking to join a herder group. Seft also decided to go against his father in order to marry his love, Neen. He was successful as a herder. Seft's ability to think and find solutions to common problems that the herders faced helped him gain the approval of his new tribe when he wanted to build a new Monument.
The writing is superb. I have been thinking about how Follett made the chapters exciting enough to force readers to keep reading until the early hours of the day. There was not the suspense that I am used to seeing in my mysteries. I really don't know how Follett did it but I couldn’t stop reading the book. I read it in 2 days with 500 pages read on the first day. This morning I finished the remaining 200 pages of the book. I can't say enough good things about the book. It is fantastic.
The original Stonehenge, or Monument as it's described in the story, was made out of wood. The priestesses were able to tell time by their method of dance around the structures. When the wood monument fell down the need for a permanent structure was discussed between Joia, Seft and a few other villagers. Eventually they decided on a stone monument. Seft then had to find a way to move those big stones to the place the monument had always been located at. His brilliant analysis of the problems the villagers would face to move the stones aided Seft in devising a strategy.
I relished this story. Rating the book is easy. It's a 5 out of 5 star story and I recommend that readers pick up the book. You won't be disappointed.
