Historical fiction · Book club
The Pillars of the Earth book club questions
Here are 12 book club questions for The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
The Pillars of the Earth follows the construction of a cathedral in the fictional English town of Kingsbridge across roughly forty years in the twelfth century, set against the real historical chaos of King Stephen's reign — a period of civil war and disputed succession known as The Anarchy.
Ken Follett · 1989 · 24h 15m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 12 questions
- 1.
Follett's medieval world has clear heroes and villains. Does that moral clarity make the novel more or less historically honest, in your view?
- 2.
Prior Philip is the novel's most fully drawn religious character. Does his faith feel authentic, or does it feel like a twenty-first-century author projecting modern sensibilities backward?
- 3.
The cathedral-building is the ostensible subject but the real subject may be institutional power — who controls resources, who controls land, who controls the church. Do you agree?
- 4.
Ellen exists partly outside medieval society's constraints on women. Is she a realistic character for the period, or a projection of modern values?
- 5.
William Hamleigh is one of fiction's more comprehensively cruel characters. Does Follett give you enough to understand him, or is he simply a mechanism for generating obstacles?
- 6.
The novel is nine hundred pages and covers forty years. Was there any section you thought should have been cut? What would the novel lose?
- 7.
How does Follett handle the sexual violence in the novel? Does it feel necessary to the historical portrait, or gratuitous?
- 8.
The Anarchy — the civil war between Stephen and Maud — is the historical backdrop. Did the novel make you want to read more about the period?
- 9.
Compared to a-tale-of-two-cities as historical fiction — where does Follett's approach differ? What does each do that the other can't?
- 10.
Jack's artistic and architectural talent is portrayed as almost innate. Is that a satisfying explanation for genius, or does it feel like a convenient device?
- 11.
The ending resolves most of the novel's threads with considerable tidiness. Was that satisfying, or did it feel too neat for nine hundred pages of complexity?
- 12.
What does it mean that the thing all the characters are building — the cathedral — is a religious structure? Does faith matter to what the novel is actually about?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for The Pillars of the Earth?
Here are 12 book club questions for The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on power and corruption, faith and ambition, architecture and craft.
How long should a book club discussion of The Pillars of the Earth last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in The Pillars of the Earth?
Power and corruption, Faith and ambition, Architecture and craft, Gender and survival, Medieval society. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like The Pillars of the Earth or questions for other book club picks.
