A Dangerous Fortune
by Ken Follett
List Price:
Our Price: $4.40
You Save: $3.59 (45%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Ken FollettEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-11-01
ISBN: 0440217490
Number of pages: 576
Publisher: Island Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780440217497
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of A Dangerous Fortune
Book Review: Ambition And Corruption Beneath A Well-Mannered Social Facade
Summary: 4 Stars
In the late-1980's as the Cold War was nearing its end (go, capitalism!) and the once red-hot market for espionage fiction was entering a downturn that is still in evidence today, British spy-thriller writer Ken Follett had the good luck to feel his muse taking his novels in another direction: toward the historical genre. First there was The Pillars of the Earth, an all-time great book set in Medieval England, and next came this one, an equally well-received if slightly lesser tale of dueling factions within a great banking house.
Set in mid-Victorian times in and around the financial district of the City of London, this novel begins with a questionably accidental and hauntingly consequential drowning at an exclusive public (aka boarding) school and wraps around a large cast of characters whose conflicting efforts to control the destiny of a great fortune make up Follett's storyline. The hero of A Dangerous Fortune is Hugh Pilaster, born into the "lesser" side of the Pilaster clan, nephew of the corrupt Augusta Pilaster, a woman who has grown used to her role as the true power behind the Pilaster family. By all rights Hugh's honesty, sharp intellect and enterprising nature should place him as logical choice to head the family bank after the death of the elder Pilaster who held that position for many years, but Augusta seeks to maintain her control by placing her own wastrel son in that role, and will use any means necessary to see that this happens, even if it means destroying Hugh and anyone else who stands in her way. Hugh also has a vulnerability Aunt Augusta is more than pleased to exploit. Hugh loves a young woman unacceptable to his social milieu and it is the subplotted tragedy of this love that cannot be that underpins Follett's commentary on the emotional suffocation Victorian morality often imposed on those who lived through it.
In its nearly 600 pages, A Dangerous Fortune introduces readers to murderous social climbers, fallen women, the privileged and lordly, and those who, though worthy of fullest recognition, dwell below the fullest heights of standing, owing to birth-status, religion, or gender. (Queen Victoria's was a flawed world of mandatory inequities and inescapable caste status.)
One thing that is satisfying about Ken Follett is his ability to make everything right as he wraps up a long book. With few exceptions, from The Eye of the Needle to his current works, in the end every character in his tales basically gets what he or she deserves. Although I won't give it away, I will note that nowhere in Follett's output has the ending to a despicable villain ever been more cringe-inducing or deserved than the awful fate he reserves here for one in particular.
A Dangerous Fortune is not a great novel, it's true, but it is a satisfying one that delivers the story it promises, and does not disappoint.
Summary of A Dangerous Fortune
In 1866, tragedy strikes at the exclusive Windfield School. A young student drowns in a mysterious accident involving a small circle of boys. The drowning and its aftermath initiates a spiraling circle of treachery that will span three decades and entwine many loves... From the exclusive men's club and brothels that cater to every dark desire of London's upper classes to the dazzling ballrooms and mahogany-paneled suites of the manipulators of the world's wealth, Ken Follett conjures up a stunning array of contrasts. This breathtaking novel portrays a family splintered by lust, bound by a shared legacy... men and women swept toward a perilous climax where greed, fed by the shocking truth of a boy's death, must be stopped, or not just one man's dreams, but those of a nation, will die...Historical Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Historical Books
Pirate Latitudes: A Novelby Michael Crichton
Harper; Published: 2009-11-24; Roughcut; Book
Best price: $2.49
Price in other shops:
The Master Butchers Singing Club: A Novelby Louise Erdrich
Harper Perennial; Published: 2004-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.83
Price in other shops:
The Last Witchfinder: A Novelby James Morrow
William Morrow; Published: 2006-03-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Zorroby Isabel Allende
HarperAudio; Published: 2005-05-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $3.12
Price in other shops:
The Hot Kid: A Novelby Elmore Leonard
William Morrow; Published: 2005-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.89
Price in other shops:
The Last Kingdom (The Saxon Chronicles Series #1)Mass Market Paperback; Book
Bones of the Hills (Conqueror, Book 3)by Conn Iggulden
Harper Collins Canada; Published: 2008; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $44.70
Marchby Geraldine Brooks
Penguin Books; Published: 2006; Paperback; Book
Emperor (Emperor 1)by Conn Iggulden
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2003-06-07; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.80
Girl With a Pearl Earringby Tracy Chevalier
Harper Collins Audio; Published: 2002-06-17; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $86.82
Similar Books and other products
Lie Down With Lionsby Ken Follett
NAL Trade; Published: 2003-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.47
Price in other shops:
Fall of Giants: Book One of the Century Trilogyby Ken Follett
NAL Trade; Published: 2011-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.10
Price in other shops:
The Pillars of the Earthby Ken Follett
Signet; Published: 2010-06-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.94
Price in other shops:
The Key to Rebeccaby Ken Follett
NAL Trade; Published: 2003-02-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.25
Price in other shops:
The Man From St. Petersburgby Ken Follett
NAL Trade; Published: 2003-06-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.15
Price in other shops:
Night Over Waterby Ken Follett
Signet Book; Published: 1992-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops:
Eye of the Needleby Ken Follett
Harper; Published: 2010-07-27; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.35
Price in other shops:
Tripleby Ken Follett
Harper; Published: 2010-07-27; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.57
Price in other shops:
A Place Called Freedomby Ken Follett
Fawcett; Published: 1996-06-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
World Without Endby Ken Follett
Signet; Published: 2010-07-27; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.57
Price in other shops: