Ken Follett: La caída de los gigantes

Ken Follett: La caída de los gigantes   -   1017 oldal

értékelés, szerintem: ★★★★★

"Esta es la historia de mis abuelos y de los vuestros, de nuestros padres y de nuestras propias vidas. De alguna forma es la historia de todos nosotros."Ken Follett

La historia empieza en 1911, el día de la coronación del rey Jorge V en la abadía de Westminster. El destino de los Williams, una familia minera de Gales, está unido por el amor y la enemistad al de los Fitzherbert, aristócratas y propietarios de minas de carbón. Lady Maud Fitzherbert se enamorará de Walter von Ulrich, un joven espía en la embajada alemana de Londres. Sus vidas se entrelazarán con la de un asesor progresista del presidente de Estados Unidos, Woodrow Wilson, y la de dos hermanos rusos a los que la guerra y la revolución les ha arrebatado su sueño de buscar fortuna en América.
Tras el éxito de Los pilares de la Tierra y Un mundo sin fin, Ken Follett presenta esta gran novela épica que narra la historia de cinco familias durante los años turbulentos de la Primera Guerra Mundial, la Revolución Rusa y la lucha de hombres y mujeres por sus derechos."

" - Así es como los países crean paz y prosperidad; o guerra, desolación y hambruna - dijo su padre. Si quieres cambiar el mundo, las relaciones internacionales es el campo en el que puedes hacer más bien ... o mal."

"Maud sabía que la mayoría de los hombres les encantaba que una mujer, sobre todo si era joven y atractiva, les pidiera que le explicaran algo."

"No hay ninguna ley que afirme que la opinión pública tenga que ser coherente."

" un líder debe tratar la opinión pública del mismo modo en que un marinero se aprovecha del viento, utilizandolo para impulsar la nave en una dirección u otra, pero nunca intentando ir directamente contra él."

"El hombre era el único animal que acababa con la vida de los de su propia especie por milliones y que convertía el paisaje en un terreno yermo, plagado de cráteres provocados por bombas y alambradas de espino."

"Dios perdonaba sus pecados, así que ¿quién era su padre para juzgarla?"

"- Cuando depende de la decisión de una pequeña cantidad de personas de escasa educación...

- Eso es la democracia.

Gus sonrió.

- Una forma espantosa de gobernar un país, pero los demás sistemas son peores."

"Era fácil pronunciar palabras valientes en la oscuridad. La luz del día podía contrar una historia muy diferente."

" Durante años, en la escuela, todos habían soportado el bombardeo de la propaganda que informaba de todas las victorias militares pero de ninguna de las derrotas. Les enseñaban la democracía de Londres, pero no les hablaban de la tiranía de El Cairo. Cuando aprendían algo sobre la justícia británica, no oían ningúna mención a la flagelación en Australia, el hambre en Irlanda o las matanzas en la India. Aprendían que los católicos quemaban a los protestantes en la hoguera, y se horrorizaban cuando los protestantes hacían lo mismo con los católicos en cuanto se les presentaba la ocasión."

Ken Follett: A Column of Fire

A Kingsbridge trilógia harmadik része,   

Ken Follett: A Column of Fire  - 885 oldal.

értékelés, szerintem:  ★★★★☆


Kevesebb Kingsbridge, több történelem, de tetszett.

"Christmas 1558, and young Ned Willard returns home to Kingsbridge to find his world has changed. The ancient stones of Kingsbridge Cathedral look down on a city torn by religious hatred. Europe is in turmoil as high principles clash bloodily with friendship, loya lty and love, and Ned soon finds himself on the opposite side from the girl he longs to marry, Margery Fitzgerald. Then Elizabeth Tudor becomes queen and all of Europe turns against England. The shrewd, determined young monarch sets up the country's first secret service to give her early warning of assassination plots, rebellions and invasion plans. Elizabeth knows that alluring, headstrong Mary Queen of Scots lies in wait in Paris. Part of a brutally ambitious French family, Mary has been proclaimed the rightful ruler of England, with her own supporters scheming to get rid of the new queen. Over a turbulent half-century, the love between Ned and Margery seems doomed, as extremism sparks violence from Edinburgh to Geneva. With Elizabeth clinging precariously to her throne and her principles, protected by a small, dedicated group of resourceful spies and courageous secret agents, it becomes clear that the real enemies - then as now - are not the rival religions. The true battle pitches those who believe in tolerance and compromise against the tyrants who would impose their ideas on everyone else - no matter the cost."

"royal children enjoyed every good thing in life, except freedom"

"Might there come a time, when people of different faiths did not kill one another?"

"The simple idea that people should be allowed to worship as they wished caused more suffering than the ten plagues of Egypt."

"Most men treated their wives like children, the only difference being that women could work harder. Perhaps there were men somewhere who did not regard wives as property, but she had never met one." 

"In a crisis, frightened people would obey anyone who sounded as if they knew what they were doing."

"His mother urged him to keep his doubts to himself, but he could not: he was seventeen, and for him right was right and wrong was wrong."

"English people were illogical about foreigners, Ned found: they hated Turks, and they believed Jews were evil, but they regarded Africans as harmlessly exotic."

"Roger's welfare was more important than Ned's: that was what it meant to be a parent."

"there are no saints in politics, but imperfect people can make the world a better place"

"The curch was Catholic, and Ned was Protestant, but he had long believed that God cared little about such distinctions."

"A child will always be what he is, she thought, and not what you want him to be."

Ken Follett: World without end

Ken Follett: World without end       -  1256 oldal

értékelés, szerintem: ★★★★☆

World Without End takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, two centuries after the townspeople finished building the exquisite Gothic cathedral that was at the heart of The Pillars of the Earth. The cathedral and the priory are again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge, but this sequel stands on its own. This time the men and women of an extraordinary cast of characters find themselves at a crossroad of new ideas--about medicine, commerce, architecture, and justice. In a world where proponents of the old ways fiercely battle those with progressive minds, the intrigue and tension quickly reach a boiling point against the devastating backdrop of the greatest natural disaster ever to strike the human race--the Black Death.

"there's always a reason for a secret"


" 'Loreeen would be better off if she'd never married.'
   He spoke over his shoulder. 'What else would she do?'
   That was the problem, Caris thought resentfully as she entered her house. What else was a woman to do?"


" 'How could the church be wrong?'
  'Well, the Muslims have different beliefs.'
  'They're heathens!'
  'They call us infidels - it's the same thing. And Bounaventura Caroli says there are more Muslims than Christians in the world. So somebody's church is wrong.' "


"A woman's life was a house of closed doors: she could not be an apprentice, she could not study at the university, she could not be a priest or a physician, nor shoot a bow nor fight with a sword, and she could not marry without submitting herself to the tyranny of her husband."


" We're all good when it suits us, he used to say: that doesn't count. It's when you want so badly to do something wrong - when you're about to make a fortune from a dishonest deal, or kiss the lovely lips of your neighbour's wife, or tell a lie to get yourself out of terrible trouble - that's when you need the rules."