Book One of the Century Trilogy. Master tale-spinner Follett tells of five families brought together through the dramas of the World War I, the Russian Revolution and the struggle for votes for women. In 1911, on King George's coronation day, 13-year-old Billy begins his first day at work in a coal mine. Drama and intrigue move on from this point, from Washington to St. Petersburg, from the filth and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace and from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty.