Grigori manages to return home to a very worried Katerina. He warns her to stay out of the streets. They are overjoyed at the news that the tsar has been forced to abdicate. I keep recommending this book to friends. It's one of those books that both educates and entertains - a real winner as I feel I'm improving myself rather than simply indulging in escapism. If the sheer size of the traditional paper version puts you off, then this is definitely one to do audio-style. The narration is spot on. Rich story-telling in satisfying Follett style. I happened to be listening to the Battle of the Somme as we reached Remembrance Sunday this year - right at the time the papers were full of photos of the poppies at the Tower of London. Really quite poignant. From November to December 1918, Ethel decides to mend her marriage by offering to help with Bernie’s campaign. They learn that Lloyd George is keeping his coalition government, and the Labour party leads to campaign against it. Meanwhile, Maud writes to Walter while the peace treaty is being discussed. Many people believe the Germans must pay for the war. Wilson arrives in France with a large group of people, including Rosa who thinks he should have brought a Republican representative.

Along these lines, discuss the characters who abandoned their respective faiths. What caused them to walk away from their beliefs? To what end? Ken Follett is an outstanding author. Yet, I find it very hard to compare one skilled writer's work with other skilled writer's work, even of the same genre, as their styles often differ quite dramatically... and so attempting to compare their work is a bit like debating which is the best type of friut.I can, however, state that there is no better wordsmith for his standard and style of work. The way he keeps your attention from start to finish, never under nor overstating life and it's bare,sometimes brutual, sometimes sensual, but always honest realities. He just weaves you into the lives of his characters and never lets you breath until he's finished. In the course of the book, virtually all female characters get pregnant – with or without being married – and give birth to one or two children. These will be teenagers in the 1930s and young adults during the Second World War, and will be the main characters of the series' second book.At the German Embassy, Walter hopes that the British and the French can stay out of the war so that the conflict is confined to eastern Europe. However, this depends on France’s ability to maintain a position of neutrality. Germany has told Britain that, if she promises to stay out of the war, France will not be invaded. Fitz feels that this would be betraying British allies. France has a treaty with Russia, however, obliging her to fight if Russia does, which it seems is about to happen. If France enters the war, Britain then will feel no obligation to support her against Germany.

After finding an article about Maud in his wallet, Monika guesses that not only is he in love with Maud but is in fact married to her. Despite her pain, she promises to keep their secret. Walter writes a letter to Maud in code, telling her that his family wants him to marry someone and that he has been forced to tell their secret. There are several key themes linking facets in world history at this point. They include the causes of the First World War, the collapse of the Russian Empire, and Germany's role in the continuance of a bloody war that led to its economic collapse and the postwar rise of Hitler. Walter finds himself attracted to Monika von der Helbard despite his marriage to Maud. He and Monika discuss the new Russian government’s announcement that they will continue to fight. Despite his own attraction and her obvious interest in him, Walter keeps Monika at arm’s length, even though he knows that her feelings are hurt by his distance. Walter goes to the Russian trenches to investigate the current mood of the soldiers, which is uniformly against continued fighting. In Petrograd, Katerina is now pregnant with Grigori’s baby, which makes Grigori even more determined to provide a more just world for his children. He does not like Lenin but knows that he is a man of action. He receives word that Lenin is to be arrested, so he warns him to flee. Discuss Maud and Ethel’s relationship. Did you expect them to form such a lasting bond, considering they met as mistress and servant? What did you think of the circumstances surrounding how their friendship ultimately dissolved?Ethel discovers that she is pregnant. When she tells Fitz, he tells her that Bea is also pregnant. Fitz’s main concern is for his heir, who can only be by his wife.

Fitz receives intelligence that the German army is bypassing Paris and heading toward the River Marne. Fitz is frustrated by the British retreat, which will ensure the fall of Paris. He manages to get the commanding generals to negotiate, but this infuriates Colonel Harvey, his superior, who warns him that his advancement in the military is over. In future volumes of The Century Trilogy, subsequent generations of the same families will travel through the great events of the rest of the twentieth century, changing themselves-and the century itself. With passion and the hand of a master, Follett brings us into a world we thought we knew, but now will never seem the same again.On July 1st, 1916 Walter sneaks into a British camp for some information and barely escapes. A leader on the British side says all the Germans are dead and demands that the British forces rush forward. A German machine gun slaughters them in seconds. As Billy and his crew are forced into no-man’s-land, Billy and other sergeants lead their troops to safety and manage to take out a few of the machine guns. While they succeed, the battle itself was a massive failure due to the casualties on the British side.