It is 1792 and a weaving revolution is taking place in Kingsbridge while across the Channel, the deadly French Revolution is well underway. The Armour of Light by Ken Follett, fifth in the Kingsbridge historical series (starting with prequel The Evening and The Morning), begins with a horrific accident. When Sal Clitheroe’s husband dies, she and her small son Kit move to Kingsbridge and so set in motion a chain of events leading to the Battle of Waterloo.
As the 18^th century turns into the 19^th, this is a story of great change as Britain industrialises and hovers on the brink of war, and both workers and ruling classes of Kingsbridge are affected. Kingsbridge, now a city so much more than simply a cathedral, is still recognisable from the earlier novels. Sal and her fellow workers at the spinning and weaving mills become embroiled in a power struggle with the mill owners, as first the spinning jenny and then other machines are introduced. Jobs are lost, hours are reduced, dissenters are flogged and strike-busting labourers are hired from Ireland.
The Armour of Light is a compelling story of the political times in England from 1792 to 1824 told through the eyes of Sal and Kit; yarn supplier’s son Amos Barrowfield; weaver David Shoveller or ‘Spade’; and alderman and mill owner Joseph Hornbeam. Adding to the tensions between the powerful and the downtrodden, war taxes raised to fund the battle against Napolean mean shortages and rocketing prices. What’s more, young men are being grabbed off the street by press gangs. Kit is a key figure, growing from a child to an inventive engineer whose talents lead him on to the battlefield, bringing a youthful vigour and freshness to the age-old battles between the city cabal of powerful men and the new friendly society which stands up for the workers.
What an epic story this is, 745 pages long but I read it in five days. Not one to over-write, Follett’s prose is never flowery but always clear and dramatic. I always wanted to read just another chapter. A great continuation of the un-matched Kingsbridge series.

Click the titles to read my reviews of other Follett novels:-
THE EVENING AND THE MORNING #prequel Kingsbridge
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH #1Kingsbridge
WORLD WITHOUT END #2Kingsbridge
A COLUMN OF FIRE #3Kingsbridge
NEVER

If you like this, try:-
‘The Lady of the Ravens’ by Joanna Hickson #1QueensoftheTower
‘The Drowned City’ by KJ Maitland #1 Daniel Pursglove
‘The Warlow Experiment’ by Alix Nathan

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE ARMOUR OF LIGHT by @KMFollett https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8aQ via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-

I absolutely loved The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett. It is thirty years since Follett published his monster hit The Pillars of the Earth and this novel is his prequel to what became the Kingsbridge series. Set in Southern England in the year 997 at the end of the Dark Ages – so called because the lack of historical documents and archaeological remains from the time means our knowledge of the era is thin – it was a period of unrest and war. Viking raids, skirmishes with the Welsh, the law allows violence against slaves while power-hungry local rulers disobey the rules of King Ethelred. The story is told by three principal characters – a French noblewoman, a young English boatbuilder and an English monk. Each is smart, ambitious and honest but they are confronted by violence, cruelty, law-breaking, jealousy and betrayal.
In the west country village of Combe, eighteen-year old boatbuilder Edgar waits on the beach for his true love. She is married and the pair are going to run away together. But as Edgar waits, he sees the arrival of a Viking ship and his life changes. The town is destroyed. Three powerful brothers arrive to examine the damage – Wilwulf, ealdorman of local region Shiring; Bishop Wynstan of Shiring; and Wilgelm, thane of Combe – each will lose income because of the raid. It is decided a visit to Normandy is necessary to ask for support from Count Hubert, a Norman lord in Cherbourg who has influence with the Vikings.
In Normandy, Hubert receives two English visitors, a monk and a priest. The monk, Brother Aldred, has a chest of books he has bought in a French abbey. His plan is to create a library, a scriptorium, at Shiring Abbey. Hubert’s daughter Ragna is under pressure from her parents to marry a local lord she dislikes. She wishes Guillaume was educated like Aldred who, being a monk, is celibate. But when English lord Wilwulf arrives, she quickly falls in love.
Ragna travels to England where she will marry Wilfulf. En route she arrives at Dreng’s Ferry and meets Edgar. His family now lives on a farm at this, a poor, lawless place where the local dean and clergy live life to their own rules.  This is the beginning of a long friendship that will last many years. Though life as the wife of an English ealdorman is not what she expected, Ragna is supported by the presence in Shiring of Aldred who also becomes a friend.
This is an endlessly fascinating story, with so many twists and turns, achievements and horrific setbacks for the three friends that it’s easy to get lost in the ups and downs of their lives. The structure of the story may be predictable at times but the characters are strongly written, the historical setting is believable and the themes of friendship and perseverance are uplifting.
As soon as I finished reading it – and it’s a long book, 832 pages – I wanted to start at the beginning again. The last time I felt like that was when I finished The Pillars of the Earth.

Click the titles to read my reviews of other Follett novels:-
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH #1KINGSBRIDGE
WORLD WITHOUT END #2KINGSBRIDGE
A COLUMN OF FIRE #3KINGSBRIDGE
THE ARMOUR OF LIGHT #4KINGSBRIDGE
NEVER

If you like this, try:-
‘The Almanack’ by Martine Bailey
‘Days Without End’ by Sebastian Barry
‘The Signature of All Things’ by Elizabeth Gilbert

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE EVENING AND THE MORNING by @KMFollett https://wp.me/p5gEM4-59F via @SandraDanby