NEW YORK - Oprah Winfrey went for the big time Wednesday with her latest book club pick, choosing Ken Follett's 973-page "The Pillars of the Earth," an announcement that will likely mean hundreds of thousands more sales for one of the world's most popular writers.
Follett, a 58-year-old native of Cardiff, Wales, is known for spectacular thrillers such as "Lie Down With Lions," "Eye of the Needle" and "World Without End," published last month, and a sequel to "The Pillars of the Earth," which came out in 1989.
Follett has called "The Pillars of the Earth," a love story set in England in the 12th century, his favourite novel. According to his website, the book still sells around 100,000 copies a year in the United States alone.
"My publishers were a little nervous about such a very unlikely subject but paradoxically, it is my most popular book," Follett writes on his Web site.
"It's also the book I'm most proud of. It recreates, quite vividly, the entire life of the village and the people who live there. You feel you know the place and the people as intimately as if you yourself were living there in the middle ages."
A year after "Pillars" came out, Follett agreed to a two-book, $12.3 million deal with the Dell Publishing Company. He reportedly has 90 million readers worldwide and recently signed with Penguin Group (USA) for a planned multigenerational trilogy set in the 20th century.
-
On the Net: Ken Follett: http://www.ken-follett.com/
"The Oprah Winfrey Show": http://www2.oprah.com/index.jhtml
More Arts Headlines »
- Border cops, hockey wives highlight CBC winter season
- CBC Television is heating up its winter lineup with a gritty drama about immigration police and a steamy series about the women in the lives of hockey players.
- National Ballet's Nutcracker to be simulcast in cinemas
- The National Ballet of Canada is bringing a high-definition version of its holiday classic, The Nutcracker, to Canadian cinema audiences next month.
- Neil Diamond reveals it was 'Sweet Caroline' Kennedy
- Singer-songwriter Neil Diamond kept it secret for decades, but he has finally revealed that former U.S. president John F. Kennedy's daughter was the inspiration for his smash hit Sweet Caroline.
- Slice TV network adds new Canadian reality shows
- Canadian reality shows will dominate the schedule on the Slice TV network in winter 2008.
- 70 years of Met opera made available online
- New York's Metropolitan Opera has made 100 famous operas from its back catalogue available online through the digital music service Rhapsody.