World Without End cover art

World Without End

The Kingsbridge Novels (abridged), Book 2

Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

World Without End

By: Ken Follett
Narrated by: Richard E. Grant
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Abridged edition, read by Richard E Grant (Withnail and I, Persuasion)

The historical saga that has enthralled millions of fans, Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series continues with World Without End.

On the day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a thief, a bully, a boy genius and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed.

As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambition, love, greed and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world but come home in the end; the other will be a powerful, corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the long shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day.

Ken Follett’s masterful epic The Pillars of the Earth enchanted millions of readers with its compelling drama of war, passion and family conflict set around the building of a cathedral. World Without End takes readers to medieval Kingsbridge two centuries later, as the men, women and children of the city once again grapple with the devastating sweep of historical change.

World Without End is followed by the third of Ken Follett's Kingsbridge novels, A Column of Fire.

© Ken Follett; (P) Macmillan Publishers Ltd
Historical Fiction Fiction City

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Wandering Harlot cover art
Virgins cover art
Hyperion cover art
The Alice Network cover art
Knight's Acre cover art
New Spring cover art
Sacred Treason cover art
Belvoir's Promise cover art
Dynasty 1: The Founding cover art

Critic reviews

"Fans of Follett's previous medieval epic will be well rewarded." (Publishers Weekly)

All stars
Most relevant  
I believe that although this was a very exciting read, it did more for me as regards history than anything else. Yes obviously fiction, but the detail of both the building methods employed, and the solutions when things failed, and the development of medical knowledge as the plague struck (the successful methods being developed by women not going unnoticed!); also the corrupt life led by the priory and the kings men etc etc. Not much changes - oops!

History to Life

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Really good and compulsive reading. A stunning insight into monastery life, religious politics, treachery, lust, betrayal, ambition, violence, sex, ,,,and the development of the guilds and the late medieval town on top

Gripping

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Really good story and kept me entertained on long car journeys. well read and worth a listen.

A good listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

It feels as if ken used scraps from his last book and escalated them into a different storyline, the first few chapters were very monotonous, the story doesn't really engage until halfway through the book, it feels as if he was writing automatically and had no real care for the characters until he got into the swing of the storyline, worth a read but not as enthralling as its predecessor

Monotonous

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This series is a real must taking one through several dynasties with accuracy . History and strategies laid out. It really is a trilogy to consume . KF you have given me hours of pleasure. Wow the labour and creativity that has gone into these books. Thank you for transporting me to the middle ages

The saga deepens

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

great narrator, great story.
great chronicle.

it is a food idea to learn history while entertaining yourself with captivating story.

great narrator, great story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel to the Pillars of the Earth. It stands alone as well so you don't have to read the first book to enjoy this (although I'd definitely recommend it).

beautifully written, beautifully read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Liked the way that certain events were incorporated into the story, it doesn't matter that the events didn't take place at Kings bridge just that they happened

Triumph over adversity...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This was a real plod yes fine if you like your fiction to be about bridge building but the characters were shallow and the motive for reading well hidden in a tedious waffle where it is hard to identify a real story.

Dull and boring

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

very well produced and read, but far too abridged. many key aspects left out and this us a bug bare of mine.

very well produced and read, but far too abridged.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews