A tyrannical government is determined to make England a mighty commercial empire. In France, Napoleon Bonaparte begins his rise to power, and with dissent rife, France’s neighbours are on high alert. Kingsbridge is on the edgeUnprecedented industrial change sweeps the land, making the lives of the workers in Kingbridge’s prosperous cloth mills a misery.

Rampant modernization and dangerous new machinery are rendering jobs obsolete and tearing families apart. Tyranny is on the horizonNow, as international conflict nears, a story of a small group of Kingsbridge people – including spinner Sal Clitheroe, weaver David Shoveller and Kit, Sal’s inventive and headstrong son – will come to define the struggle of a generation as they seek enlightenment and fight for a future free from oppression . . . Taking the reader straight into the heart of history with the fifth novel in the ground-breaking Kingsbridge series, The Armour of Light is master storyteller Ken Follett’s most ambitious novel to date.

'Follett's storytelling skills make their adventures riveting' - The Times'An effortlessly engaging and entertaining read' - Daily Mail'Bold in scale and meticulously researched' - Sunday Times'The plague scenes are expertly handled.