Ken Follett (The Pillars of the Earth) is sure to delight his dedicated following and add new readers with Circle of Days, a thoroughly researched, engrossing, and richly imagined novel about the creation of Stonehenge.
Follett, whose research included access to recent archeological studies, reimagines late-Neolithic Britain as divided into communities of farmers, herders, and woodlanders. Overseeing all of these groups are the priestesses, who use their understanding of mathematics and the wooden "Monument" where they conduct their rituals to predict eclipses, equinoxes, and solstices. The novel is filled with fascinating details of daily life in a time before the wheel, including the backbreaking work of mining flint for tools, the creation of fermented food that could be stored without spoiling, and a festival where men and women have sex with strangers outside their communities to prevent inbreeding. Of course, each community has its own interests, and the farmers emerge as the most territorial and warlike. When a dispute ends in a fire that destroys the Monument, it falls to Seft, a flint miner and brilliant engineer, and Joia, a visionary priestess, to work out how to transport and construct a permanent circle of stones.
While Follett's colorful historical detail makes Circle of Days a captivating trip back in time, it is his carefully drawn characters and intricately plotted storyline that make the novel an irresistible read. As an added bonus, he offers readers an intriguing explanation for the enduring mystery of Stonehenge. --Debra Ginsberg, author and freelance editor