Cassie McCullough

And, you know, it sort of moves along with the...

solidity of knowing exactly what it's doing and where it's going and i think compared to pillars of the earth that was amazing it was about the building of a cathedral which ended up outlasting all the characters in the book of course and it's loosely based on salisbury cathedral

or Wells as well.

There's a Priory as well.

So as an author who must have immense sort of pressure on him by publishing companies to churn these books out, he does a very, very good job.

But there is, you know, a formula here.

And I was interested to note in his acknowledgements, he says, as usual, my research was assisted by Dan Sterer of Research for Writers in New York City.

And I guess, you know, that really tells you that there is a full-time job for at least one person, I'd say probably more, in researching the detail and coming up with the place and the time and the accuracy that is required to create these pictures and these places that he does and tell the stories of the politics and the history with great accuracy.

I mean, there's always quibbles about whether he's right about things, but that's what he's doing.

It's kind of fun.

Yeah, but Kate, you might be one of the only people who hasn't read Pillars of the Earth.

I mean, it's been made into television series.

It's been a board game.

I think there was a trivia game that's associated with it.

I mean, this is mass market stuff.

But, you know, it's really...

opened up whole swathes of history to people who may not otherwise have understood how, you know, Henry VIII came to be on the throne and how, you know, it's all there if you're interested.

But Kate, can I just say, there's also one other book of his that I think is a must read.

besides Pillars of the Earth, and that is The Eye of the Needle.

Now, this was written in 1978 and it remains, I think, one of the great World War II thriller novels.