Gus DeWar, an American law student, gives readers a glimpse into the White House and the personality behind President Woodrow Wilson. The Russian brothers, Lev and Grigori Peshkov, represent both the immigrant challenges that new Americans faced, as well as the revolutionary spirit in Russia which launched the Bolshevik Revolution. Ethyl's brother, Billy, takes a central role in the novel as he too rises above his station after going to war overseas. The male characters in the book are no less captivating. Ethyl quickly became one of my favorite characters as she grew into a strong, politically active young woman. but she has aspirations far above her birthright. Maud's housekeeper, Ethyl Williams, comes from a poor Welsh mining family. Balancing her secret affair with her duties as the sister of an Earl who is deeply enmeshed in politics, is a challenge Maud confronts for much of the book. Maud is an intelligent, driven woman who knows what she wants.

Maud Fitzherbert is a woman of wealth who is fighting for women's rights when she finds herself falling in love with a spy in the German embassy in London.

Some of my favorite fictional characters in this chunkster were the women. Dozens of real historical characters appear in the nearly 1000 pages of the book which explores such historical events as WWI, the Russian Revolution, and Women's Suffrage. Follett did a huge amount of research for this novel and it shows. Covering the years between 19, it is a sweeping historical saga introducing five interrelated families from America, Germany, Russia, England and Wales. from Fall of Giants, opening sentence -įall of Giants is the first book in The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett (the second book in the trilogy, Winter of the World, was just released this month). On the day King George V was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London, Billy Williams went down the pit in Aberowen, South Wales.

Ken follett century trilogy characters