Fall of Giants

Fall of Giants is a 2010 historical novel by Ken Follett and the first part of his Century Trilogy, which follows five interrelated families across the twentieth century. The opening gives the book its method: thirteen-year-old Billy Williams goes down the pit for the first time in the fictional Welsh town of Aberowen, and the mine, its owner and the household above it are established in the same scene.

From there the novel moves between the class that owns the coal and the class that digs it. Lady Maud Fitzherbert begins a relationship with Walter von Ulrich, a German diplomat in London, while two orphaned Russian brothers try to emigrate and are overtaken by war and revolution, and an American aide is present as the United States moves towards joining the fighting.

The historical events the book carries are the war itself, the revolution in Russia and the struggle for women's suffrage, and its structure interlocks personal decisions with the decisions of governments. Follett writes in a plain, forward-moving style and uses the five families to hold a very large story together, which is the pattern the later volumes keep.