Ken Follett is one of the best-selling novelists alive, with nearly 200 million copies of his books sold. He made his name with the Second World War spy thriller Eye of the Needle, then surprised everyone with The Pillars of the Earth, a 1,000-page novel about building a medieval cathedral that became one of the most loved historical novels ever written.
This guide covers every Ken Follett book: the Kingsbridge series and the Century Trilogy in order, all his standalone thrillers and historical novels, his early books under pen names, his nonfiction, and the screen adaptations, with advice on where to start.
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Quick facts
- Born: 5 June 1949, Cardiff, Wales
- Books: More than 30 novels under his own name, plus early books under pen names and three works of nonfiction
- Best known for: The Pillars of the Earth, the Kingsbridge series, the Century Trilogy and Eye of the Needle
- Latest book: Circle of Days (2025)
- Next book: The Deep and Secret Things (September 2027)
- Official website: ken-follett.com
About Ken Follett
Early Life
Kenneth Martin Follett was born in Cardiff in 1949, the son of a tax inspector. His parents belonged to the Plymouth Brethren, a strict religious group that did not allow films or television, so the young Follett spent his time with books from the public library. The family moved to London when he was ten.
He studied philosophy at University College London, graduating in 1970, and then trained as a journalist. He worked as a reporter at the South Wales Echo in Cardiff and then at the Evening News in London before moving into publishing at Everest Books.
From Journalism to Eye of the Needle
Follett has often told the story of how his writing career began: he needed money to repair his car, and a colleague had just been paid a £200 advance for a thriller. He wrote his first novels in his spare time, under pen names such as Simon Myles and Zachary Stone, and none of them made much of a mark.
That changed in 1978 with Eye of the Needle, a Second World War spy thriller about a German agent who discovers the truth about the D-Day invasion. It became an international best seller, sold more than 10 million copies, and won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Follett was 29, and he has been a full-time novelist ever since.
The Leap to Historical Fiction
Through the 1980s, Follett wrote a run of hugely successful thrillers. Then in 1989, he published The Pillars of the Earth, a vast novel about the building of a cathedral in 12th-century England. It was a risky change of direction, and it became his best-known book: it spent 18 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, stayed on the German best-seller list for six years, and was later chosen for Oprah’s Book Club.
Since then, Follett has moved between thrillers and big historical sagas, returning to Kingsbridge four more times and following five families through the 20th century in the Century Trilogy.
Honours
- Edgar Award for Best Novel for Eye of the Needle (1979)
- Grand Master at ThrillerFest (2010) and at the Edgar Awards (2013)
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to literature (2018)
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (2018)
- Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters, France (2019)
- Officer of the Legion of Honour, France (2025)
Ken Follett Today
Follett is in his late seventies and still writing. He lives in Hertfordshire, England, with his wife Barbara Follett, who was the Member of Parliament for Stevenage from 1997 to 2010. He is involved in many local charities in Stevenage, and in 2025, he also became a French citizen, a sign of his longstanding love for France. His most recent novel is Circle of Days (2025), and his next, The Deep and Secret Things, is due in September 2027.
Ken Follett Series at a Glance
| Series | Books | Period | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingsbridge | 5 | 997 to 1824 | Ongoing |
| Century Trilogy | 3 | 1911 to 1989 | Complete |
Everything else Follett has written is a standalone novel, so you can read it in any order.
The Kingsbridge Series
Setting: The fictional English town of Kingsbridge, from 997 to 1824
Books: 5
Published: 1989 to 2023
Each Kingsbridge novel is set in a different century and follows a new cast of builders, monks, merchants, spies, and ordinary townspeople, whose lives are shaped by the great events of their age. Families, buildings, and old grudges carry over from book to book, but every novel stands on its own.
Kingsbridge Books in Publication Order
- The Pillars of the Earth (1989): the 12th century, during the civil war known as the Anarchy. A builder dreams of making a cathedral, and a determined prior needs one to save his priory.
- World Without End (2007): from 1327, through the Black Death. Four children witness a secret in the woods that shapes their lives.
- A Column of Fire (2017): from 1558, in the age of Elizabeth I. A young man from Kingsbridge joins the queen’s secret service as Europe is torn apart by religious war.
- The Evening and the Morning (2020): from 997, before Kingsbridge existed. A boatbuilder, a Norman noblewoman, and an idealistic monk take on a ruthless bishop.
- The Armour of Light (2023): from 1792 to 1824, as the Industrial Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars transform Kingsbridge.
Kingsbridge Books in Chronological Order
If you prefer to follow the story of the town from the beginning, read them in this order: The Evening and the Morning, The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, A Column of Fire, The Armour of Light. Both orders work because each book is complete in itself. Many readers still start with The Pillars of the Earth, because it is the book around which the others were written.
All five novels are also available together in a Kingsbridge box set. For a book-by-book guide with settings, recurring families, and spoiler-free summaries, see our full Kingsbridge series reading order. For more novels like them, see the best medieval historical fiction and our medieval Europe hub.
Read it if you love: epic sagas, cathedrals and castles, underdog heroes, and history seen through ordinary lives.
The Century Trilogy
Setting: Britain, Germany, Russia, and the United States, 1911 to 1989
Books: 3 (complete)
Published: 2010 to 2014
The Century Trilogy follows five families, Welsh, English, German, Russian, and American, whose lives cross again and again through the great events of the 20th century. The first book covers the First World War and the Russian Revolution; the second, the Second World War; and the third, the Cold War, ending with the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Century Trilogy Books in Order
- Fall of Giants (2010): 1911 to 1924, the First World War and the Russian Revolution
- Winter of the World (2012): 1933 to 1949, the rise of fascism and the Second World War
- Edge of Eternity (2014): 1961 to 1989, the Cold War and the civil rights movement
Unlike Kingsbridge, this trilogy should be read in order because each book follows the children and grandchildren of the characters in the previous one. See our Century Trilogy reading order for the full guide, and our hubs on WWI historical fiction and WWII historical fiction for more books set in the same years.
Read it if you love: family sagas, 20th-century history, and big novels that jump between countries.
Ken Follett Standalone Novels
The Thrillers That Made His Name
Eye of the Needle (1978). A German spy known as the Needle discovers the secret Allied invasion plans and races to deliver the information to Berlin. His escape route leads to a remote Scottish island, where a lonely young woman becomes the only person who can stop him. First published in the UK as Storm Island.
Triple (1979). In 1968, an Israeli agent is given an impossible mission: to secretly acquire enough uranium to keep his country ahead of its enemies. A tense Cold War thriller, loosely inspired by a real case.
The Key to Rebecca (1980). Cairo, 1942. A German spy is sending Rommel the British Army’s secrets, using a copy of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca as his codebook, and a British intelligence officer has to find him. Readers who love the original Rebecca will enjoy our Daphne du Maurier author page.
The Man from St. Petersburg (1982). London, 1914. As Britain secretly negotiates an alliance with Russia, a Russian anarchist arrives in the city with a plan to change history, and an English aristocratic family is caught in the middle.
Lie Down with Lions (1985). A young Englishwoman follows her husband, a doctor, into Soviet-occupied Afghanistan, where the past catches up with them in the form of an American agent she once loved.
Historical Novels
Night Over Water (1991). September 1939: war has just been declared, and the Pan American Clipper is making its last luxury flight from England to New York. Every passenger on board is running from something.
A Dangerous Fortune (1993). A drowning at an English boarding school in 1866 sets off decades of ambition, betrayal, and revenge inside a great Victorian banking family. For more novels from this period, see our Victorian era hub.
A Place Called Freedom (1995). In 1766, a young Scottish coal miner born into near-slavery refuses to accept his fate, and his fight for freedom takes him from the pits to London and to colonial Virginia.
Code to Zero (2000). In 1958, as the United States prepares to launch its first satellite, a man wakes up in Washington with no memory of who he is, and he soon realizes someone wants him dead.
Jackdaws (2001). Days before D-Day, a young British agent recruits a team of women to parachute into occupied France and destroy a vital telephone exchange. It won the readers’ prize at the Corine Literature Prize awards in 2003.
Hornet Flight (2002). In occupied Denmark, a young man discovers the secret of Germany’s radar and has to get it to Britain, with only a broken-down Hornet Moth biplane to fly.
For more novels set in the same war, see our list of the best WWII historical fiction.
Contemporary Thrillers
The Third Twin (1996). A young scientist studying identical twins stumbles on a secret that powerful people will do anything to protect.
The Hammer of Eden (1998). A cult in California threatens to set off an earthquake unless its demands are met, and an FBI agent has days to find out whether they can.
Whiteout (2004). Over Christmas, a deadly virus is stolen from a Scottish research lab, and a snowstorm traps a family and the thieves together.
Never (2021). A chain of small crises in Africa, China, and Washington pushes the world step by step toward a war nobody wants. Follett’s most ambitious modern thriller.
Prehistoric Britain
Circle of Days (2025). Follett’s most recent novel goes back to around 2500 BC to tell the story of the people who built Stonehenge: a flint miner, a priestess with a vision and the communities who fought over what the great circle should be. It is a standalone, not part of the Kingsbridge series.
Coming Next: The Deep and Secret Things (2027)
Follett’s next novel, The Deep and Secret Things, is due in September 2027. It is a Victorian novel about a Welsh noblewoman and has been announced as a standalone. We will update this page when it is published.
Early Books Under Pen Names
Before Eye of the Needle, Follett wrote several books under other names. Two of the thrillers have since been reissued under his own name:
- The Modigliani Scandal (1976, first published as Zachary Stone): a comic caper about a lost painting and the art world.
- Paper Money (1977, first published as Zachary Stone): a single day in London, where a newspaper, a robbery, and a financial scandal collide.
The others are long out of print and mainly of interest to collectors:
- As Simon Myles (Apples Carstairs series): The Big Needle (1974), The Big Black (1974), The Big Hit (1975)
- Piers Roper series: The Shakeout (1975), The Bear Raid (1976)
- As Bernard L. Ross: Amok: King of Legend (1976) and Capricorn One (1978), a novelization of the film
- As Martin Martinsen, for children: The Power Twins (1976) and The Mystery Hideout (1976)
Nonfiction
On Wings of Eagles (1983). The true story of how businessman Ross Perot organized the rescue of two of his employees from prison in Iran during the 1979 revolution.
Notre-Dame (2019). A short book written after the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris, about what the cathedral means and what the building of cathedrals has meant for centuries. Follett donated his earnings from the book to the restoration of the Cathedral of Dol-de-Bretagne in France.
Follett also co-wrote The Heist of the Century (1978), an account of a famous bank robbery in Nice.
All Ken Follett Books in Publication Order
1970s: The Big Needle (1974), The Big Black (1974), The Big Hit (1975), The Shakeout (1975), The Bear Raid (1976), The Modigliani Scandal (1976), Amok: King of Legend (1976), The Power Twins (1976), The Mystery Hideout (1976), Paper Money (1977), Eye of the Needle (1978), Capricorn One (1978), The Heist of the Century (1978), Triple (1979)
1980s: The Key to Rebecca (1980), The Man from St. Petersburg (1982), On Wings of Eagles (1983), Lie Down with Lions (1985), The Pillars of the Earth (1989)
1990s: Night Over Water (1991), A Dangerous Fortune (1993), A Place Called Freedom (1995), The Third Twin (1996), The Hammer of Eden (1998)
2000s: Code to Zero (2000), Jackdaws (2001), Hornet Flight (2002), Whiteout (2004), World Without End (2007)
2010s: Fall of Giants (2010), Winter of the World (2012), Edge of Eternity (2014), A Column of Fire (2017), Notre-Dame (2019)
2020s: The Evening and the Morning (2020), Never (2021), The Armour of Light (2023), Circle of Days (2025), The Deep and Secret Things (due 2027)
Where to Start with Ken Follett
The best first book overall: The Pillars of the Earth. It is long, but it reads fast, and it shows everything Follett does best.
For a shorter start: Eye of the Needle, the tight, gripping thriller that made his name.
For the 20th century: Fall of Giants, the first book of the Century Trilogy.
For Tudor intrigue: A Column of Fire. It stands alone, and it is as much a spy novel as a historical one. See our Tudor England hub for more.
For the Second World War: Jackdaws or Eye of the Needle.
For something completely different: Circle of Days, Follett’s journey back to the age of Stonehenge.
Books by Time Period
- Prehistoric Britain: Circle of Days
- Anglo-Saxon England: The Evening and the Morning
- The Middle Ages: The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End
- The Tudor Age: A Column of Fire
- The 18th century: A Place Called Freedom
- The Napoleonic era: The Armour of Light
- The Victorian era: A Dangerous Fortune
- The First World War: The Man from St. Petersburg, Fall of Giants
- The Second World War: Night Over Water, Eye of the Needle, The Key to Rebecca, Jackdaws, Hornet Flight, Winter of the World
- The Cold War: Code to Zero, Triple, Lie Down with Lions, Edge of Eternity
- Contemporary: The Third Twin, The Hammer of Eden, Whiteout, Never
Follett’s Writing Style
Big stories, clear prose. Follett writes in a plain, fast style that carries readers through books of 800 pages or more without ever feeling heavy.
Ordinary people in history. His heroes are builders, miners, nurses, and clerks as often as kings. History happens to them, and they fight back.
Strong women. From Aliena in The Pillars of the Earth to Caris in World Without End and Flick in Jackdaws, many of his most memorable characters are women pushing against the limits of their time.
Research. Follett works with historians who check his manuscripts, and he builds his plots around real events. For more on how novelists balance fact and fiction, see what makes historical fiction accurate.
Adaptations
- The Pillars of the Earth (2010): an eight-part miniseries with Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell and Matthew Macfadyen.
- World Without End (2012): an eight-part miniseries set during the Black Death.
- Eye of the Needle (1981): a film starring Donald Sutherland.
- The Key to Rebecca (1985) and On Wings of Eagles (1986): television miniseries.
- Lie Down with Lions (1994) and The Third Twin (1997): television films.
- A Dangerous Fortune (2016): a two-part German television adaptation.
- The Pillars of the Earth (2017 to 2018): an interactive adventure game by Daedalic Entertainment, released in three parts.
What to Read If You Like Ken Follett
Edward Rutherfurd. The closest match to Kingsbridge: huge novels that follow one place through many centuries, such as Sarum and London. See our Edward Rutherfurd author page.
Sharon Kay Penman. Detailed, gripping novels about medieval kings and queens, perfect after Pillars. See our Sharon Kay Penman author page.
Philippa Gregory. Royal women at the center of English history, from the Wars of the Roses to the Tudors. See our Philippa Gregory author page.
Bernard Cornwell. More action and more battles, with the same gift for making history exciting. Start with The Last Kingdom. See our Bernard Cornwell author page.
Conn Iggulden. Fast, readable epics about Rome, the Mongols, and the Wars of the Roses. See our Conn Iggulden author page.
Robert Harris. For readers who love Follett’s thrillers: historical suspense from ancient Rome to the Second World War. See our Robert Harris author page.
For even more, see our lists of the best historical fiction series and the best historical fiction of all time.
How to Pronounce Ken Follett
Follett is pronounced FOL-it, with the stress on the first syllable, so it rhymes with “wallet”. It is not “foe-LETT”.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Ken Follett still alive?
Yes. Ken Follett was born on 5 June 1949 and is still writing. His most recent novel, Circle of Days, was published in 2025, and his next, The Deep and Secret Things, is due in September 2027.
How many books has Ken Follett written?
Ken Follett has published more than 30 novels under his own name, including the five Kingsbridge novels and the three books of the Century Trilogy. He also wrote several early books under pen names and three works of nonfiction.
How many books has Ken Follett sold?
Ken Follett has sold nearly 200 million copies of his books worldwide. The Pillars of the Earth alone had sold more than 26 million copies by 2017.
What order should I read the Kingsbridge books in?
You can read them in publication order (The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, A Column of Fire, The Evening and the Morning, The Armour of Light) or in story order, starting with The Evening and the Morning. Each book stands alone, and most readers start with The Pillars of the Earth.
What are the three books in the Ken Follett trilogy?
The Century Trilogy is made up of Fall of Giants (2010), Winter of the World (2012) and Edge of Eternity (2014). It follows five families through the First World War, the Second World War and the Cold War, and should be read in order.
What is Ken Follett’s best book?
The Pillars of the Earth is his best-known and best-selling book, and most readers consider it his masterpiece. Eye of the Needle is his most celebrated thriller, and Fall of Giants is a favorite among readers of 20th-century history.
Is Circle of Days part of the Kingsbridge series?
No. Circle of Days (2025) is a standalone novel set in prehistoric Britain around 2500 BC, about the people who built Stonehenge. It has no connection to Kingsbridge.
What is Ken Follett’s next book?
His next novel is The Deep and Secret Things, due in September 2027. It is a standalone Victorian novel about a Welsh noblewoman.
Is Ken Follett historically accurate?
Follett researches his novels carefully and has historians check his manuscripts. His main characters are fictional, but the events, settings and daily life around them are carefully researched, and real historical figures appear throughout his books.
Where is Ken Follett from, and where does he live?
He was born in Cardiff, Wales, and grew up partly in London. He lives in Hertfordshire, England, and became a French citizen in 2025.
Who is Ken Follett married to?
He is married to Barbara Follett, who served as the Labour Member of Parliament for Stevenage from 1997 to 2010.
Has Ken Follett won any awards?
Yes. Eye of the Needle won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1979, and he was named a Grand Master at the Edgar Awards in 2013. He was appointed CBE in 2018, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature the same year, and made an Officer of the French Legion of Honour in 2025.
Conclusion
Ken Follett has spent more than 50 years proving that a novel can be both huge and impossible to put down. Whether you start with a cathedral rising in 12th-century England, a German spy on a Scottish island, or five families living through the 20th century, you are in the hands of one of the great storytellers of our time.
If you are new to him, start with The Pillars of the Earth. If you already love it, the rest of Kingsbridge and the Century Trilogy are waiting.