Ken Follett

Welsh novelist Ken Follett enjoyed a massive international readership with his historical espionage novels, which included the bestsellers Eye of the Needle (1978) and The Key to Rebecca (1980), as well as his medieval dramas The Pillars of the Earth (1989) and World Without End (2007) and the "Century" trilogy (2010-2014), which spanned the whole of the 20th century. Follett's novels were popular among readers and critics alike for their complex, meticulously researched plots, which often drew from real-life events, as well as their high quotients of action, romance and political machination. Their page-turning qualities were ideal for film and television adaptations, beginning in 1981 with "The Eye of the Needle" (1981) and later including "On Wings of Eagles" (NBC 1986) and "Pillars" (Starz, 2010). Follett's ability to produce consistently entertaining and solidly constructed genre novels over the course of a four-decade career made him one of the best-selling and best-loved authors in the world.