A Place Called Freedom

Ken Follett is a great storyteller. Anything he writes is worth reading.

I kept checking how many pages I had left thinking that there was no way things would wrap up sufficiently in such a short length, and in a way I was correct. Though the story is complete, it almost feels more like a very well thoughtout rough draft with little setting/minute details that usually make Follett books instant favorites.

I'll tell you upfront that this is one of my favorite books. You can tell from the reviews that A Place Called Freedom results in either love or hate, so let me tell you why I love it. First, the story is like something from a Thomas Hardy or Charles Dickens novel. Some reviewers have called it formulaic, corny, or contrived. Sure, like a "Tess of the D'urbervilles" or "A Tale of Two Cities" it jerks the characters through quite a life of suffering and disappointments, but you will care about these characters and cheer them on in their epic journey to find freedom and each other. There is a romantic element to the story, for sure, but it's not Harlequin in nature and it's not as sappy as much of the historical fiction out there. Second, the writing is easy and enjoyable to read, even though it uses dialect for the Scottish characters. Unlike Hardy and Dickens, Follett is neither laborious in his detail nor overly wordy. This book is a quick read and full of memorable imagery. Third, and I'm sure somebody will ding me for saying this, you really get a feeling for the American experience-for why people came to this country, for how unprepared they were for the reality of being here back when people were trying to impose the old-world class system on an untamed country full of possibilities, for how determination, hard work, and devotion were the true mark of class. A Place Called Freedom is more period like A Dangerous Fortune, although not quite as dark as that book. If your first Ken Follett books were about the war and espionage, then you might not like A Place Called Freedom because it is a different type of book for Follett. For those people, I'd recommend Jackdaws or The Key to Rebecca. But, if you like historical fiction, the stories of Hardy and Dickens, or the romantic feeling of adventure in Follett's Hornet Flight, you should give A Place Called Freedom a try.

What an excellent book! I read this in less than a week. I couldn't seem to put it down. Ken Follett does such an excellent job with describing all of his characters and scenes. I felt like I was right there with Lizie. I have recommended this book to all of my friends. This was the first Follett book that I have read and am now hooked to his books. He doesn't just tell one story, he tells many and interweaves them with each other. It had several twists and turns up to the last page. READ IT, READ IT, READ IT!

What a very fine writer Ken Follett is! Having read "The eye of the needle" many years ago, and more recently, "Pillars of the earth" and enjoyed them both very much,I just finished reading "A place called freedom".It took only 2 days as I couldn't put it down and for 2 nights, read into the small hours.An indentured Scottish coal miner, Mack McAsh, tries to force the hand of the mine owner into treating the down trodden miners with compassion and fairness. He is railroaded by the system and tranported as a convict to Virginia. This is a tale of a mans inhuman treatment and his fight fot freedom in the New World.It's a great read,well written,exciting and unputdownable.It could well have been made into an actioner movie

This book was a change of pace for Ken Follett who has carried out some outstanding research into conditions in late 18th century Scotland, England, and the American colonies. The main character, who's ambition is the freedom to go his own way, comes up against the class structure of the times and the limited rights of the working man. This develops into a superb tale as the hero encounters first the conditions of servitude and slavery in Scotland, then the conditions of repression in England, and finally the conditions of bondage in Virginia. While it is historical fiction, the book is especially recommended for readers delving into conditions that brought people to the American colonies. Readers should be forewarned that the book has significant sexual content and some violence that would give it at best a PG-13 rating.