What was the name of the historical novel about cathedral building in the 13th century? Who was the author and is a sequel or movie planned?

lanfranco

Perhaps you mean Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth," which is actually set in the 12th century and is rather entertaining: Apparently, both a sequel and a film are in the works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillars_of_the_Earth Jun 11 06, 7:40 PM

dino335

Yes it sounds like "Pillars of the Earth" There is also "Sarum" by Edward Rutherfurd, which deals with the building of Salisbury Cathedral in a couple of chapters, but that book covers 7,000 years, so there is other stuff in it also (including specualtion on the building of Stonehenge). Jun 11 06, 7:59 PM

Gnomon

Sounds like "Brunelleschi's Dome" by Ross King, which was about the construction of the "Duomo" Cathedral in Florence, mainly in the 13th Century. Jun 12 06, 2:27 AM

Gnomon

No, I'm wrong. That wasn't a historical novel, it was non-fiction. Jun 12 06, 2:28 AM

teash

yep. sorry my mistake on the century! The sequel's working title is "World Without End" due out 2007. "The cathedral and the priory are again at the centre of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge. But at the heart of the story is the greatest natural disaster ever to strike the human race: the plague known as the Black Death, which killed something like half the population of Europe in the fourteenth century." I can't wait! Jun 12 06, 11:27 AM

lanfranco

Gnomen, Brunelleschi's dome on Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence was constructed in the 15th, not the 13th, century. Jun 12 06, 11:41 AM

Elendil88

teash ~ Did you get an answer to your question yet? I ask because I too am looking for the name of a book read long ago about a stone mason whose lifelong dream was to build a great cathedral. None of the answers you got are the book I am looking for..... Jun 21 07, 9:51 PM

lindamax

I believe the book you refer to is Edith Pargeter's The Heaven Tree, which is part of a trilogy set in the border marches of England and Wales in the 13th century. Came across your question while trying to find out if I could get another set! Oct 30 07, 4:41 PM

globusproject

Yes. I read this same novel and it really made me think. The stone mason was building a cathedral in France I believe. I thought the book was written by James A. Mitchner, but when I went to Amazon, I could not find it. I have been searching as I many my ideas about how society is structured (or mal structured) today was based on that book. I may have a copy of what I am looking for, packed away somewhere, but I am not sure of the title or author also. In searching for this book, I came across your question, and I too am a bit confused that I can not find it. Are we the only two that read this long but very interesting novel? :-) After I spent some time searching, I do believe that the book you are searching for is Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth," which is actually set in the 12th century: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillars_of_the_Earth Aug 20 09, 12:49 AM

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