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A Place Called Freedom

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On sale Feb 28, 2017 | 3 Hours and 57 Minutes | 9780525524458
A PLACE CALLED FREEDOM begins in the infernal coal mines of the Jamisson family, in the Scottish highlands, where twenty-one-year-old Mack McAsh spends most of his waking hours.  Bound to his employer for life, Mack burns with an insatiable desire to escape.  

He finds an unlikely ally in Lizzie Hallim, the beautiful, willful young aristocratic woman who yearns for independence in a male-dominated society.

Mack's hunger for freedom brings him into conflict again and again with the harsh rulers of eighteenth-century Britain.  Accused of riot--a capital crime--Mack becomes one of the thousands of convicts who are shipped to the American colonies, to work as slaves for seven long years.

With its vivid, fascinating portrayal of the colorful streets of London and the endless landscapes of the New World, plus an unforgettable cast of heroes and villains, lovers, and rebels, hypocrites, hell-raisers, and whores, A PLACE CALLED FREEDOM is a magnificent epic of love, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Mack was in one of the common wards of Newgate Prison.

He could not remember all that had happened to him the night before. He had a dazed recollection of being tied up and thrown across the back of a horse and carried through London. There was a tall building with barred windows, a cobbled courtyard, a staircase and a studded door. Then he had been led in here. It had been dark, and he had not been able to see much. Battered and fatigued, he had fallen asleep.

He woke to find himself in a room about the size of Cora's apartment. It was cold: there was no glass in the windows and no fire in the fireplace. The place smelled foul. At least thirty other people were crammed in with him: men, women and children, plus a dog and a pig. Everyone slept on the floor and shared a large chamberpot.

There was a constant coming and going. Some of the women left early in the morning, and Mack learned they were not prisoners but prisoners' wives who bribed the jailers and spent the nights here. The warders brought in food, beer, gin, and newspapers for those who could pay their grossly inflated prices. People went to see friends in other wards. One prisoner was visited by a clergyman, another by a barber. Anything was permitted, it seemed, but everything had to be paid for.

People laughed about their plight and joked about their crimes. There was an air of jollity that annoyed Mack. He was hardly awake before he was offered a swallow of gin from someone's bottle and a puff on a pipe of tobacco, as if they were all at a wedding.

Mack hurt all over, but his head was the worst. There was a lump at the back that was crusted with blood. He felt hopelessly gloomy. He had failed in every way. He had run away from Hugh to be free, yet he was in jail. He had fought for the coal heavers' rights and had got some of them killed. He had lost Cora. He would be put on trial for treason, or riot, or murder. And he would probably die on the gallows. Many of the people around him had as much reason to grieve, but perhaps they were too stupid to grasp their fate.

Poor Esther would never get out of the village now. He wished he had brought her with him. She could have dressed as a man, the way Lizzie Hallim did. She would have managed sailors' work more easily than Mack himself, for she was nimbler. And her common sense might even have kept Mack out of trouble.

He hoped Annie's baby would be a boy. At least there would still be a Mack. Perhaps Mack Lee would have a luckier life, and a longer one, than Mack McAsh.

He was at a low point when a warder opened the door and Cora walked in.
Praise for A Place Called Freedom
 
"Gripping . . . a very entertaining tale." Chicago Tribune
 
"Compelling." San Francisco Chronicle
 
"Quick-paced." New York Daily News
 
"An altogether entertaining reading experience." Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Follett skillfully combines tension, eroticism, and an unusual locale." —Detroit Free Press

"A richly colored plot . . . Entertaining." —Lexington Herald-Leader

"Superb storytelling." —West Coast Review of Books

"The action and the tension should keep fans happily turning pages." —Booklist
© Olivier Favre
Ken Follett is one of the world's best-loved authors, selling more than 188 million copies of his thirty-six books. Follett’s first bestseller was Eye of the Needle, a spy story set in the Second World War. In 1989, The Pillars of the Earth was published and has since become Follett's most popular novel. It reached number one on bestseller lists around the world and was an Oprah’s Book Club pick. Its sequels, World Without End and A Column of Fire, and prequel The Evening and the Morning, proved equally popular, and the Kingsbridge series has sold more than fifty million copies worldwide. Follett lives in Hertfordshire, England, with his wife, Barbara. Between them they have five children, six grandchildren, and three Labradors. View titles by Ken Follett

About

A PLACE CALLED FREEDOM begins in the infernal coal mines of the Jamisson family, in the Scottish highlands, where twenty-one-year-old Mack McAsh spends most of his waking hours.  Bound to his employer for life, Mack burns with an insatiable desire to escape.  

He finds an unlikely ally in Lizzie Hallim, the beautiful, willful young aristocratic woman who yearns for independence in a male-dominated society.

Mack's hunger for freedom brings him into conflict again and again with the harsh rulers of eighteenth-century Britain.  Accused of riot--a capital crime--Mack becomes one of the thousands of convicts who are shipped to the American colonies, to work as slaves for seven long years.

With its vivid, fascinating portrayal of the colorful streets of London and the endless landscapes of the New World, plus an unforgettable cast of heroes and villains, lovers, and rebels, hypocrites, hell-raisers, and whores, A PLACE CALLED FREEDOM is a magnificent epic of love, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Excerpt

Mack was in one of the common wards of Newgate Prison.

He could not remember all that had happened to him the night before. He had a dazed recollection of being tied up and thrown across the back of a horse and carried through London. There was a tall building with barred windows, a cobbled courtyard, a staircase and a studded door. Then he had been led in here. It had been dark, and he had not been able to see much. Battered and fatigued, he had fallen asleep.

He woke to find himself in a room about the size of Cora's apartment. It was cold: there was no glass in the windows and no fire in the fireplace. The place smelled foul. At least thirty other people were crammed in with him: men, women and children, plus a dog and a pig. Everyone slept on the floor and shared a large chamberpot.

There was a constant coming and going. Some of the women left early in the morning, and Mack learned they were not prisoners but prisoners' wives who bribed the jailers and spent the nights here. The warders brought in food, beer, gin, and newspapers for those who could pay their grossly inflated prices. People went to see friends in other wards. One prisoner was visited by a clergyman, another by a barber. Anything was permitted, it seemed, but everything had to be paid for.

People laughed about their plight and joked about their crimes. There was an air of jollity that annoyed Mack. He was hardly awake before he was offered a swallow of gin from someone's bottle and a puff on a pipe of tobacco, as if they were all at a wedding.

Mack hurt all over, but his head was the worst. There was a lump at the back that was crusted with blood. He felt hopelessly gloomy. He had failed in every way. He had run away from Hugh to be free, yet he was in jail. He had fought for the coal heavers' rights and had got some of them killed. He had lost Cora. He would be put on trial for treason, or riot, or murder. And he would probably die on the gallows. Many of the people around him had as much reason to grieve, but perhaps they were too stupid to grasp their fate.

Poor Esther would never get out of the village now. He wished he had brought her with him. She could have dressed as a man, the way Lizzie Hallim did. She would have managed sailors' work more easily than Mack himself, for she was nimbler. And her common sense might even have kept Mack out of trouble.

He hoped Annie's baby would be a boy. At least there would still be a Mack. Perhaps Mack Lee would have a luckier life, and a longer one, than Mack McAsh.

He was at a low point when a warder opened the door and Cora walked in.

Reviews

Praise for A Place Called Freedom
 
"Gripping . . . a very entertaining tale." Chicago Tribune
 
"Compelling." San Francisco Chronicle
 
"Quick-paced." New York Daily News
 
"An altogether entertaining reading experience." Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Follett skillfully combines tension, eroticism, and an unusual locale." —Detroit Free Press

"A richly colored plot . . . Entertaining." —Lexington Herald-Leader

"Superb storytelling." —West Coast Review of Books

"The action and the tension should keep fans happily turning pages." —Booklist

Author

© Olivier Favre
Ken Follett is one of the world's best-loved authors, selling more than 188 million copies of his thirty-six books. Follett’s first bestseller was Eye of the Needle, a spy story set in the Second World War. In 1989, The Pillars of the Earth was published and has since become Follett's most popular novel. It reached number one on bestseller lists around the world and was an Oprah’s Book Club pick. Its sequels, World Without End and A Column of Fire, and prequel The Evening and the Morning, proved equally popular, and the Kingsbridge series has sold more than fifty million copies worldwide. Follett lives in Hertfordshire, England, with his wife, Barbara. Between them they have five children, six grandchildren, and three Labradors. View titles by Ken Follett