Fall of Giants

Fall of Giants is the first volume in Ken Follett’s bestselling Century Trilogy, a sweeping novel that traces the lives of five families through some of the most transformative events of the early twentieth century — including the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's voting rights.

The story begins in 1911, when thirteen-year-old Billy Williams descends into the coal mines of Wales on the day of King George V’s coronation. As the world edges toward chaos, an escalating arms race threatens not just empires but ordinary lives.

Billy’s working-class family is closely tied to the Fitzherberts, aristocratic owners of the mine. Meanwhile, Maud Fitzherbert falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a German spy stationed in London. Their personal entanglements intersect with those of Gus Dewar, an idealistic young aide to American president Woodrow Wilson, and the Peshkov brothers — Russian orphans whose dream of emigrating to America is shattered by conscription, revolution, and war.

As the Great War erupts and revolution sweeps across Russia, the destinies of these families become increasingly interwoven. Love, ambition, and loyalty bind them — even as conflict and upheaval drive them apart. The choices they make will shape not only their own lives, but also the course of the century to come.

With Fall of Giants, Ken Follett delivers an ambitious and emotionally powerful narrative that brings history to life through the personal stories of those who lived it.