Stonehenge has stood for thousands of years, a monument to a civilisation whose ways of life remain shrouded in mystery. In Circle of Days, Ken Follett takes on the formidable task of imagining how this extraordinary structure might have come to be, transporting the reader to Neolithic England in the third millennium BC. It is an ambitious undertaking, but Follett approaches it with crisp, flowing prose and an understated storytelling style. The premise, in fact, is a considerable creative leap of faith.
When we meet our hero, Seft, he is a teenager living under the shadow of a brutish father, Cog, who turns a blind eye as his older sons torment him. Cog makes his living mining flint and shaping it into arrowheads and blades, assisted by his three sons. But Seft is a dreamer who longs for something more from life: stability, love, and freedom. At the heart of his dreams is Neen, a girl from a family of herders. Seft is drawn to the contrast between their two households. His own is a place of merciless beatings, while Neen’s mother, Ani, has created a circle of warmth and affection around her children, Neen, Joia and Han. The only fly in the ointment is Enwood, an older suitor for Neen whom Seft takes an instant dislike to.
The Midsummer Festival brings them all together at the herders’ place of worship, marked by a small stone circle and a larger, beautifully crafted wooden one. Here, the people gather to worship their Sun god. This rudimentary sacred site is the precursor, in Follett’s imaginative reconstruction, to what the world would eventually know as Stonehenge.
Trouble begins when Robbo, a herdsman, slaughters a forbidden heifer and kills the priestess Inka when she protests. The crime is merely the beginning of a much larger upheaval. Herders, farmers and woodlanders each cling to their livelihoods, customs and clan loyalties. Petty disputes turn ugly, and dwindling water supplies threaten to unleash outright conflict. It is in this unsettled world that Joia discovers her calling as a priestess. Her grand vision is to build a permanent place of worship, a gathering point for festivals, especially Midsummer, and a means of establishing a calendar and strengthening religious rituals. Seft, with his flint-mining skills, rudimentary carpentry and inventive mind, is the natural ally. Together, they set in motion the idea of a lasting stone circle—the monument we know as Stonehenge.
For all its grand ambitions, Circle of Days is not without its shortcomings. The story could comfortably have been told in 300 pages rather than nearly 600. Several additions to the plot feel unwarranted, stretching the narrative. The greater flaw, however, lies in Follett’s portrayal of distant forefathers. His attempt to imagine a primitive world leaves the characters somewhat underwhelming. Rather than drawing the reader into their lives and making one feel a participant in their struggles, the narrative too often leaves one a mere voyeur.
With a fascinating subject and an ambitious premise, it ultimately falls short of the monumental achievement it sets out to recreate.
