The armour of light by Ken Follett

The armour of light is fifth in bestselling author Ken Follett's The Kingsbridge novels series which began with the internationally acclaimed The pillars of the earth. The individual books stand alone, are located in Kingsbridge and describe a sweep of time in the history of England.

In his own words, Ken Follett states that he writes books for entertainment - that he doesn't want readers to have to reread sentences. Nevertheless, his books (and The armour of light is no different), are detailed and thoroughly researched. The armour of light spans the historical period from 1792-1824. Beginning with the arrival of the Spinning Jenny and the resultant disruption for workers as the industrial landscape changed from manual to machine work, The armour of light narrative weaves around the politics of the time - The Combination Act, The Housewives' Revolt, press gangs, the World War of 1812-15, Napoleon's European designs, the Battle of Waterloo and finally the reconstruction from 1815-24. The depiction of the horror of poverty, the brutality of war and the injustice of the class system of the time is skilfully evoked. The drama, hardships and romance of this period comes alive as we see the impact in Kingsbridge and on the main characters.  

Follett dedicates The armour of light to historians because they have done the groundwork from which he can weave a story and cast it with characters that we care about in order to bring the era alive. Through this, Follett hopes that current generations of readers will appreciate the horrors and hardships of different regimes and to recognise and reject emergence of similar movements. Therefore his books are not frivolous historical melodramas. The epigraph from Romans 13:12 may encapsulate the serious consideration behind The armour of light - that there are works of darkness and humans must put on an armour of light in order to combat darkness.

The armour of light is an epic saga. Generational change is seen through the lives of the main characters and their descendants. The class struggle is a pervasive element. Follett's sympathy is with the workers and through them, the reader experiences the passion, drama, ambition, love, requited and unrequited passion, sacrifice, resilience and hope along with the inverse. Readers will enjoy the references to the rise of Methodism, of the schools for impoverished children, of Luddism, of unions, workers' collectives, friendly societies - the movements that had their origins in a response to tyrannical government in the 18th Century.

Written by a master storyteller,The armour of light is a study in  the resilience and collective intelligence and integrity of the human being in the face of tyrannical political regimes everywhere, presented in an unputdownable story.

Themes: Late18th century English government, Industrialisation,Rise of unions and friendly societies, Revolution, Class struggle.

Wendy Jeffrey