Historical fiction · Similar reads
Books like The Pillars of the Earth
The best books like The Pillars of the Earth are A Tale of Two Cities, The Grapes of Wrath, and Bleak House. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is about power and corruption, faith and ambition, architecture and craft. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- A Tale of Two Cities
01
Charles Dickens · Historical fiction
A Tale of Two Cities is set against the French Revolution and follows three intertwined characters: Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat who has renounced his title and family legacy; Lucie Manette, the daughter of a man who spent eighteen years imprisoned in the Bastille; and Sydney Carton, a dissolute English lawyer who loves Lucie without hope and knows he will never be the man Darnay already is.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Grapes of Wrath
02
John Steinbeck · Literary fiction
The Grapes of Wrath is Steinbeck's 1939 novel about the Joad family, Oklahoma sharecroppers forced off their land by the Dust Bowl and bank foreclosure, who load everything they own onto a truck and drive Route 66 to California in search of work and a decent life.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - Bleak House
03
Charles Dickens · Classics
Bleak House is organized around the interminable Chancery case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce — a legal dispute over a will that has been grinding through the Court of Chancery for decades, consuming the fortunes and lives of everyone attached to it.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary →
- Great Expectations
04
Charles Dickens · Classics
Great Expectations follows Pip, an orphan boy on the Kent marshes who is yanked from modest obscurity into the orbit of wealth and social aspiration when an anonymous benefactor funds his move to London.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Darker Shade of Magic
05
V.E. Schwab · Fantasy
A Darker Shade of Magic is set across four parallel versions of London — Red, Grey, White, and the long-destroyed Black — each existing in the same location but separated by the barriers between worlds.
Both dig into power and corruption.
Read the summary → - A Game of Thrones
06
George R.R. Martin · Fantasy
A Game of Thrones is the first volume of George R.R.
Both dig into power and corruption.
Read the summary → - Means of Ascent: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume II
07
Means of Ascent: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume II
Robert A. Caro · Biography
Means of Ascent is the second volume of Robert Caro's multi-decade biography of Lyndon Johnson, covering the years between Johnson's defeat in the 1941 Senate race and his stolen victory in the 1948 Democratic primary.
Both dig into power and corruption.
Read the summary → - Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
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Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
Tom Holland · History
Rubicon tells the story of the Roman Republic's last century — from the Gracchi in the 130s BCE through the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE and the civil wars that followed — with the narrative energy of a thriller and the sourcing of serious scholarship.
Both dig into power and corruption.
Read the summary → - The Lord of the Rings
09
J.R.R. Tolkien · Philosophy
The Lord of the Rings is a single novel published in three volumes between 1954 and 1955.
Both dig into power and corruption.
Read the summary → - The Maltese Falcon
10
Dashiell Hammett · Mystery
San Francisco private detective Sam Spade is hired by a woman calling herself Miss Wonderly to find her missing sister — a lie within thirty seconds of the novel opening.
Both dig into power and corruption.
Read the summary → - The Princess Bride
11
William Goldman · Fantasy
The Princess Bride presents itself as an abridgment: William Goldman claims he is cutting the "boring parts" from a dense historical novel by the fictional S.
Both dig into power and corruption.
Read the summary → - A Gentleman in Moscow
12
Amor Towles · Historical fiction
In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced by a Bolshevik tribunal — not to death, but to permanent house arrest in Moscow's Metropol Hotel.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary →
Books like The Pillars of the Earth: quick answers
What are the best books like The Pillars of the Earth?
The best books like The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett are A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Bleak House by Charles Dickens, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Pillars of the Earth, such as power and corruption, faith and ambition, architecture and craft.
What should I read after The Pillars of the Earth?
A natural next read after The Pillars of the Earth is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. A kindred historical fiction read. Other strong choices are The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Bleak House by Charles Dickens, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
What books are similar to The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett?
The Pillars of the Earth centers on power and corruption, faith and ambition, architecture and craft. Books with a similar feel include A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Bleak House by Charles Dickens, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab, A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
