Diana's Books: A Place Called Freedom

A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett, 1995. NY. Crown. 405 pp.

Reviewed by Diana Fields

A Place Called Freedom. The title alone gets the imagination going, somewhere perhaps only the mind will ever find. There are as many ideals of freedom as there are forms of bondage. Best-selling author Ken Follett's novel tells the story of two different lives each a victim of bondage inherited by birth, Mack's is physical fraught with pain and Lizzie's is emotional, the kind that is bred in for generations. Each of them desperate to escape.

The novel begins in the hills of Scotland, mid 1700's. "The high mountain sides, the quiet mysterious woods and the laughing water formed a landscape familiar to his soul."

Centuries later, a broken iron collar unearthed on a farm called High Glen, in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia a place called Freedom.

A Place Called Freedom is action packed and full of adventure, romance and great characters. As primarily a non-fiction reader, I found Mr. Follett's historical setting both interesting and informative. While other parts I found read like a romance novel. The story moved quickly and I developed a genuine concern for the characters. The novel also gave me a richer perspective of the lives of my ancestors, whose search for freedom has given me mine.