Mondadori

In this novel Ken Follett tells the interrelated stories of five families (an American, a Russian, a German, an English and a Welsh) against the backdrop of the historic events that took place from 1911 to the First World War and the October Revolution. As in Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, Follett ably reconstructs a historical saga, weaving the events of big history into the smaller stories of protagonists that move, love, struggle and suffer against the background of the terrible events of the twentieth century. From the coal mines of Wales to the sparkling candelabra in sumptuous palaces, and from the corridors of politics to the alcoves of power, from Washington to St Petersburg, from London to Paris, the story moves incessantly between hidden dramas and international intrigues. The protagonists are rich aristocrats, the ambitious poor, courageous and strong-willed women, all of whom have to deal with war and the consequences of war.

Good and evil, love and hate, peace and war intertwine in this epic novel and are also graphically represented by two different covers, one white, one black.

Ken Follett is considered the world’s leading author of bestsellers and has sold more than 120 million copies, 18 million with Pillars of the Earth alone.

From 1 October, Sky Italia will broadcast the Ridley Scott-produced TV drama series based on Pillars of the Earth.

Antonio Pennacchi won the 64th edition of the Premio Strega with the novel Canale Mussolini.

Pennacchi’s book recounts the story of a large, patriarchal, peasant family that together with 3,000 other families in 1932 is relocated to Lazio from Veneto to colonise the Agro Pontino swamps that had just been drained by Mussolini.

The heroes of this moving saga are the Peruzzis, from the grandfather to Pericle to Adelchi, three generations of agricultural labourers who with tenacity fight the march of destiny. Drawing a large picture that has the wide scope of a poem, the story weaves the adventures of the Peruzzis together with the no-less engaging events that took place during the half century of Italian history spanning from the beginning of the 20th Century to the Second World War.

Pennacchi recalls the past with a clear and critical spirit and merges it with subtle emotion to produce a vast and rich story, an authentic epic, a great Italian novel.