Ken Follett's Century Trilogy: a complete guide
Telling the stories of five families forever connected by the world-altering geopolitical events of the twentieth century; read on for our guide to Ken Follett’s epic historical fiction series, the Century Trilogy.
The author of over 30 books, Ken Follett’s historical fiction novels and tense political thrillers have earned him legions of fans worldwide, with his books translated into dozens of languages. Perhaps best known for his bestselling Kingsbridge series, which tells the story of England from the Dark Ages to the Industrial Revolution, Follett is also the author of the Century Trilogy.
Set in Great Britain, Germany, Russia and the United States, the series is an ambitious, sweeping multi-generational family saga which spans the twentieth century. The trilogy begins during the end of the Edwardian era, takes readers through the rise of fascism and the Second World War, before finally ending while the world is divided by the Cold War. While the Century Trilogy can be read in any order; to follow the stories of the family through the decades in chronological order, begin your reading with Fall of Giants.
Fall of Giants
by Ken Follett
Book one in the Century Trilogy
1911. George V is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey as the empire nations are bolstering their arsenals, and as thirteen-year-old Billy Williams begins working at his town’s coal mine, owned by the aristocratic Fitzherbets. With the Fitzherberts’ daughter Maud falling in love with a German Spy and a pair of Russian brothers’ attempt to emigrate to the United States being thwarted by their country's bloody October Revolution, five unrelated families become entangled in ways that will follow them through the earth-shattering events of the twentieth century.
Winter of the World
by Ken Follett
Book two in the Century Trilogy
As intimate in its details of family life and love as it is epic, Winter of the World is the second novel in Ken Follett’s ambitious and immersive Century Trilogy. Studying at Cambridge and falling in love with socialite Daisy Peshkov, Lloyd Williams doesn’t get a look in as she’s more interested in Boy Fitzherbert, a young upstart in the university’s British Union of Fascists. Meanwhile, as Hitler solidifies his grip on her homeland, Carla von Ulrich’s own family is in turmoil. As the world inches closer to war, the next generation of the five intertwined families is swept along in the changing political tide.
Edge of Eternity
by Ken Follett
Book three in the Century Trilogy
The Century Trilogy concludes with Edge of Eternity, as we meet the next generation of the five families connected by fate half a century before. With the Cold War simmering to a boil and the civil rights movement in the United States gaining ground, the world is once again on a precipice of change. From one couple who board a Greyhound bus to fight for their right to love to a teacher who finds the net of East Germany’s secret police closing around her and a Russian activist who is defying her Communist brother and producing anti-party literature, in Edge of Eternity, Ken Follett asks: how far will people go to fight for their freedoms?