Not without malice, Ken Follett opened his drawer to extract a manuscript.
Not that of "Crépuscule et l'Aube", his novel which will be released in France on September 17th.
No, if the 71-year-old British writer is jubilant, it is because he holds the next one in his hands.
It will be the thirty-seventh: "Look, I'm on page 590," he says proudly.
Yes, it will be another long story.
"
With Ken Follet, the numbers make you dizzy.
He is the author of 36 books, contemporary or historical novels, thrillers or large frescoes.
Some 170 million of his works have been sold in more than 80 countries and translated into 33 languages.
His titles are almost better known than him.
"The Weapon in the Eye", "The Rebecca Code", "The Fall of the Giants" and, of course, the publishing phenomenon "The Pillars of the Earth", which her readers still tell her about, three decades later. its publication.
But few of them know how much the books have been, for Ken Follett, the chance of his life, his freedom.
"My friends watched series, I read"
Little Kenneth Follett (right) in 1957, at the age of 8, grew up in an ultra-rigorous Protestant household.Ken Follett office
Her father should never have put her in the library.
Ken Follett was born in Cardiff (Wales), "into a cult" - that's how he puts it.
In the Follett family we have been a member of the Plymouth Brethren from generation to generation.
His parents, his four grandparents, his uncles and aunts, all belong to this ultra-rigorous Protestant movement.
Very early on, young Kenneth learns that he is not a simple earthling but "a citizen of Paradise".
In the 1950s, even in a country still very religious, following the precepts of the Bible to the letter proved to be rather rare.
“Every Saturday morning the Cardiff cinema screened a children's film.
I never had the right to go there, ”he recalls.
The scout club at the end of the street welcomes all the boys in the neighborhood, "except me".
Ken and his siblings are not allowed to play sports.
At home, radio, music and television are banned.
So this entry in the municipal library, “I never understood why”.
The little boy couldn't believe his eyes: “There were thousands of books and I could have them all.
"
Ken was then 7 years old.
He will devour whatever reads.
Adventure novels, cosmonaut stories, Enid Blyton's children's series.
“While my classmates were watching TV series, I was reading books.
At 12, he left the children's section and borrowed his first James Bond from adults.
The hectic life of the famous secret agent, "one of the best fictional heroes of the twentieth century", the fluid writing of Ian Fleming… He wants to be a writer.
But the teenager does not read only novels.
"At the end of the course, I was completely atheist"
Her father left a newspaper lying around.
In a scientific article, Ken discovers that the origin of the world can be explained by continental drift.
No Noah's Ark or original sin.
Shock.
It will take several years to recover but, immediately, he warns his parents: he leaves the sect.
“They took it very, very badly.
»Deprived of money to pay for the school bus, the high school student is forced to take a job.
And, the last straw for the Follets, their son works on Sunday, the Lord's Day.
Philosophy studies will complete the metamorphosis, "at the end of the course, I had become completely atheist".
Ken Follett didn't like his first job, journalism.
However, he learned one thing there, to write in order to be understood.
But he is bored.
“My dream was to invent my own stories.
The evening after work, he gets down to it and manages to get himself published.
There is no success, but the need to write is.
A compulsive need.
In 1974, he decided to devote himself entirely to it, quit his job and started his next novel.
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Methodically, it gathers extensive documentation;
draws up a detailed draft of the story, chapter by chapter;
invents a complete biography of his characters.
After writing, he is proofread and corrected.
Published in 1978, “L'Arme à l'œil” sold 10 million copies.
A master stroke.
Follett is 29 years old.
A thousand pages on a church?
His editor chokes
The writer found success in the 1980s (here in London in 1982) .United News / Popperfoto / Getty
Here he is ready for the project of his life, "
Gone with the
Medieval
Wind
".
“It was a huge bet, recalls Eve Jackson, culture specialist on France 24. There was no guarantee that it would work.
"" A thousand pages on a church?
His editor chokes.
“He tried to dissuade me and my friends too.
I was going to "
sabotage my career
" ", recalls, amused, the writer.
He chooses to follow his intuition.
He visits the Europe of cathedrals, consults historians, becomes knowledgeable about the building of churches, sees himself as a builder: "It took me three years and three months", he says proudly.
Published in 1989 and sold 27 million copies, "The Pillars of the Earth" revolutionized the so-called historical novel.
"His limpid style comes to him from his journalistic profession, notes Eve Jackson, as his obsession for the veracity of the facts and his art of rebounding.
The British author captivates generations of readers.
“Knowing how to mix great history and fictional characters is not given to everyone”, underlines Bernard Lehut, Mr. Books on RTL, who sees in Ken Follett, “a worthy heir to Alexandre Dumas”.
Lover of cathedrals, Ken Follett, here on British television on April 16, 2019, mobilized for Notre-Dame de Paris after the fire which had devastated it the day before.Ken McKay / ITV / REX / Sipa
This success, which made him known throughout the world, the novelist underlines the irony: “An atheist who writes about a church.
It is because he literally “fell in love” with cathedrals.
Westminster, Reims and the most beautiful of all, Notre-Dame de Paris.
Follett went to his bedside shortly after the fire in April 2019, in the company of Bernard Lehut, who remembers: “We settled in the small square at the foot of the cathedral.
It was moving to be there, with the author of The Pillars of the Earth.
He has such a passion for History in general and for human genius.
Ken Follett recounted the ups and downs of Notre Dame in an 84-page booklet, the proceeds of which are fully donated to the Heritage Foundation.
The Briton loves France.
He speaks his language very well and knows his history even better.
In March 2019, he was promoted to Officer of Arts and Letters.
It is again thanks to our country that he has solved the challenge posed by his latest book, “Le Crépuscule et l'Aube”.
The action takes place before that of the “Pillars of the Earth”, at the end of the first millennium.
However, there are few representations of the early Middle Ages.
So what were his heroes going to look like?
Details of the Bayeux Tapestry, an 11th century masterpiece 70m long, enabled Ken Follett to describe the heroes of his latest novel. DeAgostini / Getty
The answer lay in the 70-meter-long Bayeux tapestry, which he nicknamed "the mother of comics".
This unique 11th century masterpiece tells the story of the Norman conquest of England.
The novelist has drawn dozens of details to feed his story.
The clothes, the dishes, "the French with the strange hairstyle, the English with their fine mustaches".
As the release of this new novel approaches, Ken Follett wonders if readers will buy it: “I'm never sure it's going to work.
He listens to them and devotes time to them.
When Kevin Maguire, deputy editor of the Daily Mirror, invited him, during confinement, to a virtual book club, the writer immediately accepted.
“We had an incredible feedback, says Maguire, 93,000 fans were there, with 200 questions!
"
Ken Follett willingly listens to readers, devotes time to them, as in Barcelona, Spain, April 23, 2015.Toni Albi / EFE / Maxppp
"Would you have imagined becoming so famous?"
Was the first.
" No.
I dreamed of it, ”replied the writer.
This was the only personal question.
Perhaps because of the genre to which it belongs - the great popular novel - no one seems to make the link between the man and his work.
But whether it is the suffragists claiming the right to vote in "The Fall of the Giants", the black Americans fighting against slavery in "The Land of the Free", or the humble mason of the "Pillars of the Earth ”, Follett's heroes are beings who fight for their freedom.
Ultimately, the writer tells only one story, his own: “All my books are about me.
"