This gigantic book, and it is just volume
one of a trilogy, aims to whizz the reader through a dozen pivotal years of the
early twentieth century that encompasses the First World War. Follett uses a relatively small cast of main
characters, spread geographically and sociologically to make this
manageable. As a result these few representatives
of the millions caught up in the maelstrom have experiences and encounters to
rival those of Forrest Gump.
Lord ‘Fitz’ Fitzherbert is landed gentry;
his land included coal mines in South Wales and a big manor house there. He sits in the Lords so has the inside track
on British war preparations, and his wife is a Russian Princess so he has
aristocratic connections there; but he is not above slumming it with his local
chambermaid. Once the war starts he
takes up his role as commander in chief of the local regiment and sees service
in France and (oddly) Russia.
Lady Maud Fitzherbert, sister of Fitz and of
independent mind, is a keen suffragist and political activist not shy of
bending the ear of her brother’s influential houseguests. Pre-war these include young diplomats from
the US and Germany, and inconveniently she falls for one of the wrong nationality.
Billy Williams is a young collier in Fitz’s
mine, then a young soldier in his regiment; a thorn in the side of the bosses
in both cases. His sister Ethel is a
bright-eyed and capable chambermaid at the big house before being shipped out
of harm’s way in London. There she teams
up with Lady Maud to promote the suffrage cause.
Gus Dewar and Walter von Ulrich are the
junior diplomats from USA and Germany who attend the pre-war unofficial
gathering at Fitz’s house. They may be
young and junior but they both have important connections. Gus is aide to President Wilson and Walter’s
father is high up in the German military.
Back in the US, Gus is engaged to Olga Vyalov, daughter of a Russian émigré
businessman/gangster. Walter, having met
Maud is keeping his matrimonial powder dry.
Over in Russia the revolution is
brewing. That means trouble for Fitz’s
brother-in-law Prince Andrei. At the
other end of the spectrum, it hints at the end of oppression for the likes of
Gregori Peshkov, a metal worker who gets active in the soviets that are
starting to exert influence. His brother,
Lev, is more interested in getting to America, which he achieves via South Wales
(and a brush with Billy). Once in the
USA he gets work as a chauffeur with the Vyalovs and unwisely takes a shine to
Olga. Meanwhile as war and revolution
take hold in Russia, Gregori rises high enough to get involved with Lenin and
Trotsky.
As the war spreads, characters share meeting
rooms in London, battlefields in France, and political manoeuvring in
Russia. Confusing? Not really; it is pretty
well put together and the broad sweep is well enough known. Suspend disbelief in the coincidental nature
of the characters’ inter-connectivity and enjoy the insiders’ view of the cataclysmic
early years of the century.
And there is more to come for those who need
to know how the next generation fare.
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