Ken Follett

Kenneth Martin Follett was born 5 June 1949 in Wales and cracked through commercially in 1978 with the spy thriller Eye of the Needle. He spent the 1980s writing more bestsellers in that vein, then pivoted hard: The Pillars of the Earth arrived in 1989, an epic set in medieval England that became his signature and launched the Kingsbridge series. He's toggled between espionage and historical fiction ever since, adding the Century Trilogy to the ledger. Many of his books have hit number one on the New York Times list, and the sales counter has climbed near 200 million copies - arun built on narrative endurance and an instinct for when to lay another brick.