The grand master of gripping fiction is back. International no. 1 bestseller Ken Follett returns to Kingsbridge in the 18th century, with an epic tale of revolution and a cast of unforgettable characters.

Revolution is in the air

1792. A tyrannical government is determined to make England a mighty commercial empire. In France, Napoleon Bonaparte begins his rise to power, and with dissent rife, France’s neighbours are on high alert.

Kingsbridge is on the edge

Unprecedented industrial change sweeps the land, making the lives of the workers in Kingsbridge’s prosperous cloth mills a misery. Rampant modernization and dangerous new machinery are rendering jobs obsolete and tearing families apart.

Tyranny is on the horizon

Now, as international conflict nears, a story of a small group of Kingsbridge people – including spinner Sal Clitheroe, weaver David Shoveller and Kit, Sal’s inventive and headstrong son – will come to define the struggle of a generation as they seek enlightenment and fight for a future free from oppression . . .

Taking the reader straight into the heart of history with the fifth novel in the ground-breaking Kingsbridge series, The Armour of Light is master storyteller Ken Follett’s most ambitious novel to date.

'Follett's storytelling skills make their adventures riveting' – The Times

'An effortlessly engaging and entertaining read' – Daily Mail

'Bold in scale and meticulously researched' – The Sunday Times

'The plague scenes are expertly handled. Where Follett excels is in telling a yarn' – The Independent

More than 175 million copies sold worldwide. Published in over eighty territories and thirty-seven languages. The international no. 1 bestselling phenomenon returns.

Follett’s storytelling skills make their adventures riveting * The Times *
Deploying a substantial cast of characters, Follett unrolls a familiar history of religious and political ferment and turns it into accessible and enjoyable fiction * Daily Mail *
This triumphant saga, begun almost thirty years ago with The Pillars Of The Earth, moves across England to Scotland, France and the New World * Sunday Express *
A sumptuous slice of swashbuckling Elizabethan romance * Mail on Sunday *
The characters, both fictional and real, are fascinating, and the Tudor period setting holds its own special allure. This is a novel that fans of historical fiction will savour and cherish * The National *
A huge read, perfect for long winter nights * Choice *
You won’t be able to put it down * Independent *
Enormous and brilliant . . . this mammoth tale seems to touch all human emotion – love and hate, loyalty and treachery, hope and despair. This is truly a novel to get lost in * Cosmopolitan *
A thundering ride through history * Peterborough Evening Telegraph *
Follett has once more lit the touch paper of English history and allowed it to explode across the pages in in all its vivid technicolour * Lancashire Evening Post *

Ken Follett was born in Cardiff, Wales. Barred from watching films and television by his parents, he developed an early interest in reading thanks to a local library. After studying philosophy at University College London, he became involved in centre-left politics, entering into journalism soon after. His first thriller, the wartime spy drama Eye of the Needle, became an international bestseller and has sold over 10 million copies. He then astonished everyone with his first historical novel, The Pillars of the Earth, the story of the building of a medieval cathedral, which went on to become one of the most beloved books of the twentieth century. One of the most popular authors in the world, his many books including the Kingsbridge series and the Century trilogy - a body of work which together chronicles over a thousand years of history - and his latest novel Never - which envisages how World War III could happen - have sold more than 188 million copies. A father and husband, Ken lives with his wife in England and enjoys travelling the world when he can.