During his research for The fall of the giants, Ken Follett came across information that shook his spine. And for the author of Pillars of the earth, it was out of the question not to share his discoveries… and the anguish that crossed him with his millions of readers. Not out of sadism, but because it made a hell of a good story.
“When I write a novel, it’s history first and foremost. Yes, the characters are very important, but for me, the story comes first, ”he said in a virtual interview from the room with walled bookshelves which serves as his office at his home in Hertfordshire. , near London.
At 72, the writer, whose 31 previous novels have sold more than 170 million copies in 33 languages, lends himself with affability and generosity to an intensive series of interviews that began several weeks ago: his most recent book, For nothing in the world, is the subject of a worldwide release.
Even more than usual, he wanted to talk about it, to explain (himself).
Because he leaves here the historical novel which made him famous to return to his first love, the spy novel: he had his first success in 1978 with Eye of the Needle – relentless stalking taking place on an island, which became two years later The weapon in the eye in French and, the following year, a film starring Donald Sutherland.
Never
Brick of some 800 pages, For nothing in the world – which plays on another scale by extending its tentacles across the planet – is titled Never in original version. “Because I hope what I’m saying here never happens… never.” “
Back to the research carried out with a view to writing the first part of his trilogy The century. The century in question, the XXe, starts, so to speak, with the First World War.
“Reading up on the subject, I was amazed to understand that no one wanted this conflict. Still, a series of decisions made in good faith led to the 14-18 war. “So I wondered if history could repeat itself. “
The origins of For nothing in the world are there. Setting fire to the powder of this contemporary story: an American soldier killed by jihadists on the border of Chad and Sudan, by a Chinese weapon.
An “incident” which ultimately turns out to be the famous flapping of the butterfly’s wings.
Enter on the scene: the President of the United States; secret agents who track terrorists in Africa; a migrant fleeing Chad with her baby; a senior Chinese intelligence official and a North Korean informant. In their company, the plot travels from Washington DC to Beijing, from the Sahara Desert to the China Sea, including North Korea and Libya.
The underestimated threat
This gallery of characters, it is noted, is made up of good people with good intentions. It is intended: “I love James Bond, but I wanted to write something more realistic, without a Machiavellian doctor who seeks to destroy the world… and without a hero who, on his own, can save the world. “
The fact remains that despite the best intentions in the world, we feel that all this will end badly. How and to what extent? To find out, you have to follow Ken Follett in his 42 chapters which go from one country to another, from one plot to the next.
The chessboard is loaded, the skein is dense, but the novelist is an experienced guide who knows how to balance action and information, adventures born of his imagination and the fruit of his research. We never get lost in his footsteps.
I love James Bond, but I wanted to write something more realistic, without a Machiavellian doctor who seeks to destroy the world … and without a hero who, on his own, can save the world
And we come out troubled For nothing in the world, especially if you follow international news. Ken Follett, who has always let the light shine through his stories, has he become pessimistic?
“By nature, I am optimistic,” he says. When I roll the dice, I always feel like they are going to roll for me. But I think the world is more dangerous today than it has ever been in my life. “
So, yes, he is pessimistic. And yes, he believes in the nuclear threat, largely underestimated, because supposedly disappeared with the end of the Cold War.
A good story
“I grew up in a world where the Russians were the big threat, but at the same time there was this feeling that we understood them, that we could negotiate with them, that we knew what they wanted. In the 1980s, the number of nuclear weapons was reduced and the danger seemed to be dissipating. “
Ken Follett believes that in reality he is bigger than ever: “We are not so terrified of the Russians anymore, but now we have the Chinese… who we don’t understand as well as we understand the Russians. We don’t know why they are doing what they do, we are not sure what they want. “
And when you don’t understand, it’s easy to judge and make mistakes.
This is what tells For nothing in the world, which can be read as a warning … even if the primary goal of Ken Follett, he insists, was to write “a good story”. He succeeds in both.