“For me, it's a spiritual experience”

Ken Follett © Arne Dedert

CBA: They had a deeply religious childhood, but then completely turned away from church and faith. Today you are an atheist – why are you still interested in the topic of church and religion?

Follett: I love going to church; it's a spiritual experience for me. I love the architecture, the church music. I like to hear the words of the Bible. But I just don't believe in God or anything that's in the Bible.
CBA: Are you interested in the situation of the Church today? What do you think about Pope Francis?
Follett: Pope Francis is doing the church a lot of good; he follows a very conservative pope I didn't like. And I like Francis' answer to the question about homosexuals: who gets to judge that? This is the way Jesus would have responded. I am a kind of fan of his.
CBA: Your new book is also about the fight for religious freedom. But that was centuries ago. Today people are still struggling – how do you view the current world situation, terrorism and killing justified by religion?
Follett: One reason that brought me to this story was that the religious wars of the 16. Twenty-first century echoes have in the 21. Century. It is not the same, but there are some parallels. We mustn't be too pessimistic, we mustn't think that nothing has changed, because in the end Catholics and Protestants don't kill each other anymore. On the other hand, there are still many religiously motivated murders in many parts of the world. The struggle goes on.
CBA: If you've seen so many cathedrals, surely you've been to a German church or two – is there a favorite?
Follett: I think the church I've visited most often in Germany is Cologne Cathedral. It's a beautiful church, but most of all my publishing house is in Cologne, so I have a lot of opportunities to visit. Every time I'm in Cologne, I go to the cathedral. I love him, he's wonderful. But in Berlin there is a very different church, I think it's called Dom, which is completely different, but also very impressive, very special. These are the two that I know. I have been to many other churches, such as in Vienna. In any case, St. Stephen's Cathedral is one of my favorites.
CBA: And the cathedral in Kingsbridge?
Follett: If you like, I have built them. It is an invented cathedral that became very important in my life. And in "The Foundation of Eternity," in the first scene when Ned comes home, the very first thing he does is go to the cathedral.
CBA: There's something fascinating about church buildings for you, isn't there?? They also live in an old rectory…
Follett: We bought this house because it was the right house in the right place. It's on the outskirts of Stevenage, the town my wife was a member of parliament for. It's very close to a big castle, Knebworth House, and in the park is the medieval church that belongs to that castle, St. Mary's, which is tiny, but very endearing. My house is the house where the priests of this church lived for hundreds of years. The church sold the house in 1929.
CBA: So the house itself tells a long story?
Follett: You see, there used to be a lord in the castle, and his eldest son inherited the castle and all the money. And if he had had a younger son, what could he do. No money, no castle, so he became a priest. Some of those aristocratic priests didn't take their work very seriously. They had some income from the church, and I fear that some of these men lived more for pleasure than for God. Consequently, my house is very beautiful.
CBA: You write pretty thick tomes. Reading books like that is actually a pretty lonely business, isn't it. Who reads such things in such fast moving times?
Follett: It's been said that no one has time to read these days; after all, a tweet only has 140 characters. But I found out that wasn't true. When people love a book, they don't stop reading it. I sometimes get tweets from readers telling me, "I'm so sad I finished reading 'The Foundation of Eternity'". Why didn't they write it longer?
CBA: Why is reading so important?
Follett: Because it is magical. You read the story and you know it's fiction. These people never existed, but when you read, you are frightened, your heart beats faster, maybe you have tears in your eyes. And if it's a creepy story, you might even lock the door so no one can get in. It's magical, it's a miracle because the story never happened. We love that kind of thing.
CBA: Why?
Follett: I think it goes back deep into childhood. I think I was reading to my son when he was just nine months old. He couldn't even speak properly. I read him a very simple story, just a few words and a few pictures. And his face brightened, he got lost in the story. You can see it in the children's faces. And when one is finished, the children say: Read again. That's the experience we seek in literature: to be so fascinated that the rest of the world becomes unimportant.
CBA: What do you like to read most?
Follett: I like various things, especially perhaps novels from the 19th century. The twentieth century as Dickens, Eliot, Jane Austen, Balzac, Zola, Flaubert, Madame Bovary. That was the golden age of the novel. And I always come back to these novels. But I also read bestsellers, thrillers, I love Lee Child, Patricia Cornwell.

Sometimes I read Simenon in French, for foreigners Simenon is easy to read. He uses a very small vocabulary and very simple sentences. But I also read Proust, who did not use a small vocabulary, nor simple sentences. I also like science fiction and sometimes non-fiction books. I read constantly, we all read constantly. You have to have a passion for reading before you can be a writer.

CBA: And in what form? E-Reader or paper?
Follett: Especially printed books. Now and then a Kindle, I sometimes take it with me on the plane. I am very happy with the screen. But I am used to reading printed books. And in the car I like to listen to audio books.

The interview was conducted by Severina Bartonischek.