There is usually a clear demarcation between high and low literature. High literature is the kind that wins awards, but leaves you a tad fatigued after finishing. Reading it gives you street-cred, and a buzzy feeling that you have done your good deed for the day. Low literature, on the other hand, gives you no holier-than-thou complex; in fact, it is more a guilty pleasure than anything to boast about. The difference between high and low literature is the difference between attending a science symposium and visiting a carnival. And yet somehow, best-selling author Ken Follett has performed a sleight of hand—he has bridged the gap between the two. He has brought his molecular biology thesis into the roller-coaster ride. His books are not literary heavyweights, but neither can they be classified as pulp.
So how did he do it? He does not use complicated language. As he himself said, “I have a rather plain and direct prose style. For me the words should be like a pane of glass that you look through, not at.” There are no deep philosophical discourses or insights into the human condition. The pace is fast and the characters are often two-dimensional—either good or bad, with no space for moral ambiguity. Yet, his books are meticulously researched, skilfully melding the real with the imagined, and he has a canny knack for making the personal political. His characters are pawns on the larger world stage who unwittingly shape momentous events.
In other words, Follett put pulp on a pedestal, thus changing the literary world order. As he himself said, his characters are “ordinary people doing extraordinary things”. And it does not get more extraordinary than Stonehenge, the prehistoric stone circle in Wiltshire, England, where Follett’s next book is set.
The book, to be published by Hachette next September, is about a flint miner who is on a quest to trade his stone at the Midsummer Fair and to find the girl he loves, and a priestess who dreams of a monument raised from the biggest stones in the world. Together, they seek to build the stone circle amidst the most searing adversities, such as war, violence, and drought.
“Stonehenge is one of the world’s most iconic and recognisable monuments but, in reality, so little is known about it. How was it built? Why was it built? Who built it?” said Follett. “It’s such a remarkable achievement and one of the greatest mysteries of all time, and that’s a fantastic combination for a story.”
Questions are a breeding ground for the imagination. Most of Follett’s stories are born from the unknown. One thing we can be sure of. He is going to leave no stone unturned to bring alive the story of Stonehenge.