What to read next
10 books like A Column of Fire
Ned and Margery make religious allegiance a question of marriage, work, secrecy, and survival across England and continental politics. If that is what you want more of after A Column of Fire, these recommendations preserve that appeal in different ways, without pretending every similar book offers the same experience.
Start with our A Column of Fire review by Ken Follett.
Choose by reading mood
Where to start
For the fastest read
The Da Vinci Code
FastFor the darkest read
Between Two Fires
Very darkFor the strongest romance
Jane Eyre
CentralFor the easiest entry
The Pillars of the Earth
AccessibleThe full shortlist
Why each book belongs here
Each match is judged against A Column of Fire, not merely placed beside it because the books share a broad genre label.
1
The Pillars of the Earth
- Shared ground
- Both books treat power as a system of competing interests rather than a single villain.
- What changes
- Pillars is more grounded in one place, craft, and construction, with stronger architectural identity.
- Best for
- Readers wanting a long, accessible medieval saga with architecture, family, politics, violence, romance, and clear heroes and villains.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Moderate
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
2
The Evening and the Morning
- Shared ground
- Both books force characters to solve immediate physical problems before larger ideals can matter.
- What changes
- The prequel returns to local institution building and a smaller political world.
- Best for
- Kingsbridge fans wanting an accessible prequel about craft, law, faith, settlement, romance, and local tyranny.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Moderate
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Moderate
3
The Great Train Robbery
- Shared ground
- Both books make a past period materially important to the characters rather than decorative scenery.
- What changes
- Great Train Robbery offers a tighter historical thriller with stronger procedural discipline.
- Best for
- Readers who enjoy procedural heists, Victorian settings, and research woven into the mechanics of a crime.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Gentle
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
4
James
- Shared ground
- Both books treat power as a system of competing interests rather than a single villain.
- What changes
- James has a similar overall reading load, but changes the emphasis. Jim's public dialect and private voice expose language as a survival performance, while Everett keeps the river journey tense, funny, and morally severe.
- Best for
- Readers of literary retellings, historical fiction, satire, and morally urgent novels about race, authorship, family, and the politics of voice.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Gentle
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
5
Between Two Fires
- Shared ground
- Both books force characters to solve immediate physical problems before larger ideals can matter.
- What changes
- Between Two Fires is darker than A Column of Fire. Thomas, Delphine, and the priest form an unstable moral company, while each monstrous episode grows from a historical or theological fear.
- Best for
- Readers wanting medieval horror, plague, faith, demons, violence, and a damaged knight's redemptive journey.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Very dark
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
6
World Without End
- Shared ground
- Both books come from Ken Follett, and they make a past period materially important to the characters rather than decorative scenery.
- What changes
- World Without End has a similar overall reading load, but changes the emphasis. Caris, Merthin, hospitals, bridges, guilds, and the Black Death make practical innovation collide with church and commercial authority.
- Best for
- Pillars readers wanting another long Kingsbridge saga with plague, healing, building, romance, and institutional conflict.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Moderate
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
7
Jane Eyre
- Shared ground
- Both books take belief seriously as both a source of meaning and a structure of power.
- What changes
- Jane Eyre is more measured and more romance-led than A Column of Fire. Jane's voice holds the novel together from childhood deprivation through adult desire.
- Best for
- Readers who want an intense first-person classic combining romance, moral independence, work, and Gothic secrecy.
- Pace Measured
- Darkness Gentle
- Romance Central
- Difficulty Moderate
8
Animal Farm
- Shared ground
- Both books treat power as a system of competing interests rather than a single villain.
- What changes
- Animal Farm has a similar overall reading load, but changes the emphasis. The fable keeps every political change visible.
- Best for
- Readers wanting an accessible political fable, including students ready to discuss revolution, propaganda, and class betrayal.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Moderate
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
9
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
- Shared ground
- Both books force characters to solve immediate physical problems before larger ideals can matter.
- What changes
- Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is darker than A Column of Fire. María, Charlotte, and Alice make immortality mean something different in each century, allowing desire, reinvention, predation, and loneliness to echo without collapsing into one moral.
- Best for
- Adult readers wanting sapphic vampires, historical settings, nonlinear structure, sensual prose, violence, hunger, toxic intimacy, and meditations on freedom.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Dark
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
10
The Da Vinci Code
- Shared ground
- Both books take belief seriously as both a source of meaning and a structure of power.
- What changes
- The Da Vinci Code is faster than A Column of Fire. Each symbol, location, betrayal, and deadline pushes directly into the next problem, making exposition function as propulsion rather than background.
- Best for
- Readers wanting a fast art-history conspiracy and willing to treat its factual claims as entertainment requiring verification.
- Pace Fast
- Darkness Moderate
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
Side-by-side
Pace, darkness, romance, and difficulty
Use these labels as directional guidance. The individual notes above explain the tradeoffs.
| Book | Pace | Darkness | Romance | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Column of Fire | Balanced | Gentle | Minimal | Accessible |
| The Pillars of the Earth | Balanced | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
| The Evening and the Morning | Balanced | Moderate | Minimal | Moderate |
| The Great Train Robbery | Balanced | Gentle | Minimal | Accessible |
| James | Balanced | Gentle | Minimal | Accessible |
| Between Two Fires | Balanced | Very dark | Minimal | Accessible |
| World Without End | Balanced | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
| Jane Eyre | Measured | Gentle | Central | Moderate |
| Animal Farm | Balanced | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
| Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil | Balanced | Dark | Minimal | Accessible |
| The Da Vinci Code | Fast | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
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