by Ken Follett, 2017, Audiobook narrated by John Lee, Penguin Audio

This is an addition to Follett’s other historical novels, this one related primarily to the reign of Elizabeth I in England.  The characters are typical of Follett’s writing.  The primary hero is an individual named Ned Willard who, although he comes from a fairly small town in England, rises to become knighted and one of Elizabeth’s trusted advisors.

The story provides a rich backdrop of history and moves along pretty well.  The characters, as in Follett’s other historical novels, however, are somewhat unbelievable.  They are, for the most part, either diabolically evil or good and heroic as in the case of Ned Willard.  The world is a constant battle between good and evil.

Follett also provides a stark picture of the intolerance evidenced by religions in that era, be they Catholic or Protestant.  The world veered from the intolerance of one religion to the other, depending on which held the most power at any given time.  Follett paints a picture that is very dark when it comes to organized religion.

I had the good fortune to listen to the book while I either walked or worked on a manual project.  In this way I made good use of my time and didn’t get bogged down on reading this very long novel.