Ken Follett - Fall of Giants

Lloyd stuck out his hand and said: “Pleased to meet you, Earl.”

It would have been undignified to snub a nine-year-old. Fitz was forced to shake.

For the first time, he had touched his son Lloyd.

“And now we’ll bid you good day,” Ethel said dismissively, and she took a step forward.

Fitz’s expression was thunderous. Reluctantly he stood aside, with his son, and they waited, backs to the wall, as Ethel and Lloyd walked past them and on up the stairs.

Several real historical characters appear in these pages, and readers sometimes ask how I draw the line between history and fiction. It’s a fair question, and here’s the answer.

In some cases, for example when Sir Edward Grey addresses the House of Commons, my fictional characters are witnessing an event that really happened. What Sir Edward says in this novel corresponds to the parliamentary record, except that I have shortened his speech, without, I hope, losing anything important.

Sometimes a real person goes to a fictional location, as when Winston Churchill visits Tŷ Gwyn. In that case, I have made sure that it was not unusual for him to visit country houses, and that he could well have done so at around that date.

When real people have conversations with my fictional characters, they are usually saying things they really did say at some point. Lloyd George’s explanation to Fitz of why he does not want to deport Lev Kamenev is based on what Lloyd George wrote, in a memo quoted in Peter Rowland’s biography.

My rule is: either the scene did happen, or it might have; either these words were used, or they might have been. And if I find some reason why the scene could not have taken place in real life, or the words would not really have been said-if, for example, the character was in another country at the time-I leave it out.

My principal historical consultant for this book has been Richard Overy. Other historians who read drafts and made corrections, saving me from many errors, were: John M. Cooper, Mark Goldman, Holger Herwig, John Keiger, Evan Mawdsley, Richard Toye, and Christopher Williams. Susan Pedersen helped with the subject of soldiers’ wives’ separation allowances.

As always, many of these advisers were found for me by Dan Starer of Research for Writers in New York City.

Friends who helped include Tim Blythe, who gave me some essential books; Adam Brett-Smith, who advised on champagne; the sharp-eyed Nigel Dean; Tony McWalter and Chris Manners, two wise and perceptive critics; trainspotter Geoff Mann, who advised on locomotive wheels; and Angela Spizig, who read the first draft and commented from a German perspective.

Editors and agents who read and advised were Amy Berkower, Leslie Gelbman, Phyllis Grann, Neil Nyren, Imogen Taylor, and, as ever, Al Zuckerman.

Finally I thank family members who read the draft and gave me advice, especially Barbara Follett, Emanuele Follett, Marie-Claire Follett, Jann Turner, and Kim Turner.