This is the third of Follett's Century Trilogy, this time covering the Cold War, an era I lived through myself, but maybe did not always understand. I have always liked the fact that Follett set engaging characters in the U.S., Germany, England and Russia, giving us the different angles to the story, the world events.
In the U.S. we have George Jakes, a black lawyer that went to Harvard who ends up working for Bobby Kennedy. He like Verena, who also goes to Harvard and works for Martin Luther King. Hugo works for J Edgar Hoover. Larry back from the army and atrocities in Nam. Cameraon Dewar is conservative and works for Nixon, eventually becoming a CIA agent in Poland.
In Germany, Maud and her family end up in East Berlin. Rebecca, her granddaughter, marries Hans, who turns out to be Stasi. When she finds out, they divorce and she falls for Bernd, her boss in school. Walli, her brother, is a musician who escapes to West Germany, leaving Karolin, his love, behind. Lili is his sister, Carla & Werner are the parents.
In England we have Dave Williams, whose father is Lloyd Williams, MP and mother is Daisy Peshkov from the US. Dave who becomes a pop star with his cousin Walli.
In Russia we have Dinka Dvorkin, who works for Khrushchev. His sister Tonya works for a newspaper and printed samizdat publications.
I vaguely remember Kennedy facing off with Khrushchev. The Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis is well depicted. I remember when we were taught to hide under our desks in class and had bomb drills in school. There was a tense moment when everyone was waiting whether the world (or at least major cities) would be blown up on both sides of the Atlantic. Thank goodness they did not.
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