Cathedral: a novel

By Ben Hopkins

***LONGLISTED: THE HWA GOLD CROWN 2021***

***A Sunday Times BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021: "An ambitious, epic debut."***

***A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021***

A Times BOOK OF THE MONTH: "Beautifully written and profoundly insightful."

“A memorable tapestry of politics, religion and conflicting human desires.” —The Sunday Times

“Cathedral is a masterpiece, one of the best historical novels I’ve read in a long time. Spellbinding and so evocative of place and time. A triumph.”—Dan Jones

"Fascinating, fun, and gripping to the very end."—Roddy Doyle

A sweeping story about obsession, mysticism, art, and earthly desire.

At the centre of this story, is the Cathedral. Its design and construction in the 12th and 13th centuries in the fictional town of Hagenburg unites a vast array of unforgettable characters whose fortunes are inseparable from the shifting political factions and economic interests vying for supremacy. From the bishop to his treasurer to local merchants and lowly stonecutters, everyone, even the town’s Jewish denizens, is implicated and affected by the slow rise of Hagenburg’s Cathedral, which in no way enforces morality or charity.

Around this narrative core, Ben Hopkins has constructed his own monumental edifice, a choral novel that is rich with the vicissitudes of mercantilism, politics, religion, and human enterprise. Ambitious, immersive, a remarkable feat of imagination, Cathedral deftly combines historical fiction, the literary novel of ideas, and a tale of adventure and intrigue.

Fans of authors like Umberto Eco, Elif Shafak, Hilary Mantel, Ken Follett and Jose Saramago will delight at the atmosphere, the beautiful prose, and the vivid characters of Ben Hopkins’s Cathedral.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Europa Editions
• Release date: Jan 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781787702523

Reviews for Cathedral

[maryreinert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is historical fiction at its best. Set in the 1200's in a fictional town in Germany this is a study in history, economy, the struggle between church and state, and human nature. Even though the characters are knights, priests, bishops, stone workers, shepherds, or pirates, human nature is still the same.Throughout the novel, the big cathedral is being built in the center of the town based on the drawings of a sensitive noble. A young man holding his younger brother's hand arrives in the city and takes out a "loan" from the Jewish moneylender in order to purchase their freedom. Rettich Schaffer and his brother Emmerich are only two of the approxiately 15 or so narrators of the story. Rettich becomes a stone mason with a complicated relationship with the master drawer. His cunning younger brother, Emmerich, eventually goes into business with the Jews and is able to have a broad influence. Their sister, Gerte, also shrewd and clever, is a woman whose future is limited, but manages to become one of the most influential leaders in the town as she leads the weaver's guild.Other interesting characters include Eugenius Von Zabern who is the cynical treasurer for the Bishop and thus in charge of financing the building of the cathedral. The power of the church and the rising power of the merchant class and guilds is portrayed in such an interesting and understandable way. This is a book that could be reread over and over. Great writing, believable and nuanced characters, and vivid setting. Loved it!

[pierthinker · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is set in the fictional German town of Hagenburg in the 13th Century and is very loosely centred on the construction of a magnificent cathedral. The story follows the lives of a dozen or so characters through this turbulent century as the town develops from a small rather agrarian backwater into a major city centred on trade and commerce. We see how the power of the Church weakens over this time and comes to rely on the merchants and city elders more and more.The characters here are wonderfully alive with complex emotions, relationships and motivations, so that we come to root for them even when they are failing in their common humanity. We see where they have come from and what they want to achieve in their dreams. In almost every case we see that ultimately they want a better life for their children and will do everything they can to deliver; their own position in life is by the way, almost irrelevant.The historical context is lightly worn and never gets in the way of character, but is erudite, nonetheless. This is a wonderful book.