The Military Workshop
1st Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2005
- Messages
- 4,778
Have a book shop voucher I need to use and have my eye on Ken Follett's Century Trilogy (see synopsis below from his web page). The 2nd and 3rd books I have found at good prices but not yet found the first one.
Has anybody read this trilogy ? Some serious pages involved so interested in any feed back. If I get it I need to finish it before the planned TV series {sm2}
From KF web page :
Fall of Giants is a magnificent new historical epic. The first novel in the Century trilogy, it follows the fates of five interrelated families – American, German, Russian, English and Welsh – as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage.
Thirteen-year-old Billy Williams enters a man’s world in the Welsh mining pits… Gus Dewar, an American law student rejected in love, finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House… two orphaned Russian brothers, Grigori and Lev Peshkov, embark on radically different paths half a world apart when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription and revolution… Billy’s sister, Ethel, a housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts, takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German Embassy in London…
These characters and many others find their lives inextricably entangled as, in a saga of unfolding drama and intriguing complexity, Fall of Giants moves seamlessly from Washington to St. Petersburg, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty.
Winter of the World picks up right where the first book left off, as its five interrelated families – American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh – enter a time of enormous social, political, and economic turmoil, beginning with the rise of the Third Reich, through the Spanish Civil War and the great dramas of World War II, to the explosions of the American and Soviet atomic bombs and the beginning of the long Cold War.
Carla von Ulrich, born of German and English parents, finds her life engulfed by the Nazi tide, until she commits a deed of great courage and heartbreak…
American brothers Woody and Chuck Dewar, each with a secret, take separate paths to momentous events, one in Washington, the other in the bloody jungles of the Pacific…
English student Lloyd Williams discovers in the crucible of the Spanish Civil War that he must fight Communism just as hard as Fascism…
Daisy Peshkov, a driven social climber, cares only for popularity and the fast set, until the war transforms her life, not just once but twice, while her cousin Volodya carves out a position in Soviet intelligence that will affect not only this war but also the war to come…
These characters and many others find their lives inextricably entangled as their experiences illuminate the cataclysms that marked the century. From the drawing rooms of the rich to the blood and smoke of battle, their lives intertwine, propelling the reader into dramas of ever-increasing complexity.
Throughout the 'Century Trilogy', Ken has followed the fortunes of five intertwined families – American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh – as they make their way through the twentieth century. Now they come to one of the most tumultuous eras of all, the enormous social, political, and economic turmoil of the 1960s through the 1980s, from civil rights, assassinations, mass political movements and Vietnam to the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Presidential impeachment, revolution – and rock and roll.
East German teacher Rebecca Hoffman discovers she’s been spied on by the Stasi for years and commits an impulsive act that will affect her family for the rest of their lives…George Jakes, the child of a mixed-race couple, bypasses a corporate law career to join Robert F. Kennedy’s Justice Department, and finds himself in the middle not only of the seminal events of the civil rights battle, but a much more personal battle of his own…Cameron Dewar, the grandson of a Senator, jumps at the chance to do some official and unofficial espionage for a cause he believes in, only to discover that the world is a much more dangerous place than he’d imagined…Dimka Dvorkin, a young aide to Nikita Khruschev, becomes a prime agent both for good and for ill as the U.S. and the Soviet Union race to the brink of nuclear war, while his twin sister Tania carves out a role that will take her from Moscow to Cuba to Prague to Warsaw – and into history.
As always with Ken, the historical background is brilliantly researched and rendered, the action fast-moving, the characters rich in nuance and emotion. With the hand of a master, he brings us into a world we thought we knew but now will never seem the same again.
From Hollywood Reporter
ABC is ready to tell Ken Follett's Century Trilogy.
The network is developing Fall of Giants, a sweeping 10-hour limited series based on the trilogy comprising New York Times best-sellers Fall of Giants, Winter of the World and Edge of Eternity,
The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Ann Peacock (The Dovekeepers, Chronicles of Narnia) is on board to pen the script and exec produce the project from Sony Pictures Television. Should Giants perform well, the second and third books in the trilogy could be the basis for two more 10-hour event series or a continuing hourlong scripted series.
Giants is a dramatic tale of love and war told through the lives of five families that become entangled by the first World War. An earl falls for a coal miner's daughter, a British heiress for a German spy and a young American on the fast track to the White House falls for a Russian bootleggers's daughter. Set against the backdrop of a catastrophic war, Follett's characters rise to the challenge of new realities of social class, gender equality and economic collapse — and every one of them is irrevocably changed by it.
Michael De Luca (Fifty Shades of Grey, The Social Network) is on board to executive produce Giants alongside Stephanie Germain (The Day After Tomorrow, Lifetime's Nora Roberts movies).
For Follett, the Century Trilogy started in 2010 with Giants, followed by World in 2012 and Eternity in September 2014. The first two installments have sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. His previous works, The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, were adapted at Starz and Reelz, respectively. His novels have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.
So if all goes well will be 30 hours of TV.
Brett
Has anybody read this trilogy ? Some serious pages involved so interested in any feed back. If I get it I need to finish it before the planned TV series {sm2}
From KF web page :
Fall of Giants is a magnificent new historical epic. The first novel in the Century trilogy, it follows the fates of five interrelated families – American, German, Russian, English and Welsh – as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage.
Thirteen-year-old Billy Williams enters a man’s world in the Welsh mining pits… Gus Dewar, an American law student rejected in love, finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House… two orphaned Russian brothers, Grigori and Lev Peshkov, embark on radically different paths half a world apart when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription and revolution… Billy’s sister, Ethel, a housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts, takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German Embassy in London…
These characters and many others find their lives inextricably entangled as, in a saga of unfolding drama and intriguing complexity, Fall of Giants moves seamlessly from Washington to St. Petersburg, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty.
Winter of the World picks up right where the first book left off, as its five interrelated families – American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh – enter a time of enormous social, political, and economic turmoil, beginning with the rise of the Third Reich, through the Spanish Civil War and the great dramas of World War II, to the explosions of the American and Soviet atomic bombs and the beginning of the long Cold War.
Carla von Ulrich, born of German and English parents, finds her life engulfed by the Nazi tide, until she commits a deed of great courage and heartbreak…
American brothers Woody and Chuck Dewar, each with a secret, take separate paths to momentous events, one in Washington, the other in the bloody jungles of the Pacific…
English student Lloyd Williams discovers in the crucible of the Spanish Civil War that he must fight Communism just as hard as Fascism…
Daisy Peshkov, a driven social climber, cares only for popularity and the fast set, until the war transforms her life, not just once but twice, while her cousin Volodya carves out a position in Soviet intelligence that will affect not only this war but also the war to come…
These characters and many others find their lives inextricably entangled as their experiences illuminate the cataclysms that marked the century. From the drawing rooms of the rich to the blood and smoke of battle, their lives intertwine, propelling the reader into dramas of ever-increasing complexity.
Throughout the 'Century Trilogy', Ken has followed the fortunes of five intertwined families – American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh – as they make their way through the twentieth century. Now they come to one of the most tumultuous eras of all, the enormous social, political, and economic turmoil of the 1960s through the 1980s, from civil rights, assassinations, mass political movements and Vietnam to the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Presidential impeachment, revolution – and rock and roll.
East German teacher Rebecca Hoffman discovers she’s been spied on by the Stasi for years and commits an impulsive act that will affect her family for the rest of their lives…George Jakes, the child of a mixed-race couple, bypasses a corporate law career to join Robert F. Kennedy’s Justice Department, and finds himself in the middle not only of the seminal events of the civil rights battle, but a much more personal battle of his own…Cameron Dewar, the grandson of a Senator, jumps at the chance to do some official and unofficial espionage for a cause he believes in, only to discover that the world is a much more dangerous place than he’d imagined…Dimka Dvorkin, a young aide to Nikita Khruschev, becomes a prime agent both for good and for ill as the U.S. and the Soviet Union race to the brink of nuclear war, while his twin sister Tania carves out a role that will take her from Moscow to Cuba to Prague to Warsaw – and into history.
As always with Ken, the historical background is brilliantly researched and rendered, the action fast-moving, the characters rich in nuance and emotion. With the hand of a master, he brings us into a world we thought we knew but now will never seem the same again.
From Hollywood Reporter
ABC is ready to tell Ken Follett's Century Trilogy.
The network is developing Fall of Giants, a sweeping 10-hour limited series based on the trilogy comprising New York Times best-sellers Fall of Giants, Winter of the World and Edge of Eternity,
The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Ann Peacock (The Dovekeepers, Chronicles of Narnia) is on board to pen the script and exec produce the project from Sony Pictures Television. Should Giants perform well, the second and third books in the trilogy could be the basis for two more 10-hour event series or a continuing hourlong scripted series.
Giants is a dramatic tale of love and war told through the lives of five families that become entangled by the first World War. An earl falls for a coal miner's daughter, a British heiress for a German spy and a young American on the fast track to the White House falls for a Russian bootleggers's daughter. Set against the backdrop of a catastrophic war, Follett's characters rise to the challenge of new realities of social class, gender equality and economic collapse — and every one of them is irrevocably changed by it.
Michael De Luca (Fifty Shades of Grey, The Social Network) is on board to executive produce Giants alongside Stephanie Germain (The Day After Tomorrow, Lifetime's Nora Roberts movies).
For Follett, the Century Trilogy started in 2010 with Giants, followed by World in 2012 and Eternity in September 2014. The first two installments have sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. His previous works, The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, were adapted at Starz and Reelz, respectively. His novels have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.
So if all goes well will be 30 hours of TV.
Brett
