"Hornet Flight," by Ken Follett

“Hornet Flight,” by Ken Follett, (New York: Penguin Putnam Inc.; 2002), 420 pages.

The Second World War is the backdrop to many works of fiction. Some books take us to the center of the action at the front lines, while others take us the machinations of high command. “Hornet Flight” takes us to occupied Denmark at the beginning of the Nazi occupation, and provides the reader a mixture of frontline action and central command politics. The exact time in which this story is based is significant because during this time Danish citizens decided whether their loyalties were with their Nazi occupiers, or with their desire for freedom and the emerging Danish resistance movement. The dichotomy, or moral and ethical choice between good and evil drives this story, and sets up the narrative's major theme, namely the struggle between men on whether to live their lives on the side of good, or to live their lives on the side of evil.

Follett places these issues firmly in the minds of his characters as they are confronted with a growing realization that their Nazi occupiers are capable of immense cruelty, terror and wickedness. In the center of this morality fight are two extended Danish families, one is the family of a church pastor, another their long-time family rival. The pastor’s family become sympathetic to the fledgling Danish resistance, and through a series of actions of helping out friends and family, makes themselves enemies of the Nazi occupiers. Their rival family, especially one member with a strong grudge against them, is sympathetic to the Nazi's and seeks their favors, ingratiates himself with them and becomes their lackey. His persecution of suspected spies and suspected resistance members brings him into conflict with his old family rivals, whom he mercilessly hunts down, especially when he suspects them of having discovered a secret Nazi weapon. The pastor's family becomes instrumental in obtaining intelligence information and photos that must be sent to London by a certain date to ensure the greater success of the allied aerial bombing of Germany.

Follett is a masterful storyteller who tells big stories through the lives of individuals. Although this is fiction, Follett tells the important part played by resistance fighters and spies in helping secure information vital to the long-term success of the allied bombing effort. With this skill in entwining the lives of everyday people with actual events, Follett tells a fabulous story that both entertains the reader and provides hours of enjoyment. Don't think this is a war novel - its not. The war is a backdrop, but the real story is the drama of everyday life including betrayal, love, violence, loyalty, dedication to duty, dedication to family, and the issues we face everyday, particularly, what to do in life when given a choice between the easy and ignoble path, or the difficult and right path in life. If these are the things that interest you in novels, then this is a book that you will enjoy.

“A Place Called Freedom,” by Ken Follett

“A Place Called Freedom,” by Ken Follett (New York: Ballentine Books; 1995), 450 pages.

This is a story set in 1773 Britain and Virginia, of the parallel lives of an impoverished Scottish coal miner and an aristocratic daughter of the landed nobility. The coal miner, Mack McAsh, has a life of servitude as a coalminer in Scotland. His major desire in life is to be free. He first seeks a legal remedy to his position in life, but is cheated from his freedom. His only ally is Lizzie Hamlin, a free spirited and individually minded woman in an age where most women were not free spirited or independently minded. Lizzie Hamlin despises coal mining, particularly the effect of underground mining on the health of miners. Both seek to escape their respective situation, Lizzie Hamlin by marriage to a greedy, grasping landholder intent on mining her estate, while McAsh flees to London. Lizzie Hamlin also relocates to London to prepare for her wedding, while McAsh seeks honest work, but his honesty and desire for fair pay for his labor place him in opposition and conflict with corrupt businessmen that are also pillars of London’s establishment. McAsh is eventually subjected to trial based on perjured evidence, found guilty, and transported to Virginia to again work in indentured servitude along with African slaves on a tobacco plantation in Virginia, ironically, on the plantation owned by Lizzie Hamlin’s tyrannical husband. Both desire freedom from their oppressors, and eventually find an opportunity to seek it together against the back-drop of pre-revolutionary Virginia.

Follett’s book is a compelling and fast-paced story. To some readers, it might seem implausible that these parallel lives of an impoverished laborer and an aristocratic woman could become intertwined, but they do, and it’s convincing and realistically written with neither contrivances nor coincidences. Follett’s use of plot twists and turn moves the story to its final and favorable conclusion. Follett also holds little back: the book has numerous scenes describing cruel violence and intimate relations. Follett may perhaps go too far in his descriptions of these scenes; does he have do be so explicit? No curtains are drawn, and nothing left to the imagination. Accordingly, this will appeal to a wide range of readers including those that like love stories, historical pieces set in pre-revolutionary colonial America and Britain. It should also appeal to lovers of fast paced inspirational stories where the protagonists rise above their seemingly insurmountable obstacle to attains something noble and precious as freedom. Perhaps this is why it is what made this book such a phenomenal best seller.