Ken Follett - A Place Called Freedom

Book reviewed on bookshow by Brian Lowen 19th Dec 2013

Another wonderful long saga from KF. This time the story is set in the 1700s

Our hero is  Mack McAsh, a charismatic rebel coalminer who has the courage to stand up for his rights against the brutal mine owners who force them to work long hours underground in terrible conditions.

Our heroine is Lizzie Hallim, an independent and rebellious girl who is engaged to Jay Jamisson, the son of the ruthless owner of the mine and heir to a large business empire.

Born into separate worlds, Mack and Lizzie are continually thrown together throughout the story.

Mack becomes an enemy of the state and is forced to flee his homeland. Lizzie aids his escape and they both finish up on the other side of the Atlantic on a tobacco plantation in Virginia. Lizzie is the wife of the new owner of the plantation, Jay, while Mack is a convict slave working on the land.

And so we follow their turbulent relationship as Mack seeks his freedom in the New World.

KF has obviously done a lot of research for this novel because we learn a lot about life on a tobacco plantation in the new colony and also how life treated the rich and the poor in London at this time.

A magnificent novel that you will not want to put down once started.