When the Roman Empire declined, Britain went backward. As the Roman villas crumbled, the people built one-room wooden dwellings without chimneys. The technology of Roman pottery - important for storing food - was mostly lost. Literacy declined. This period is sometimes called the Dark Ages, and progress was painfully slow for five hundred years. Then, at last, things started to change... In this prequel to the monumental The Pillars of the Earth, three people find their lives intertwined. A young boatbuilder's life is turned upside down when the only home he's ever known is raided by Vikings...A Norman noblewoman marries for love, following her husband across the sea to a new land, but the customs of her husband's homeland are shockingly different, and she begins to realize that everyone around her is engaged in a constant, brutal battle for power...A monk dreams of transforming his humble abbey into a center of learning that will be admired throughout Europe. And each in turn comes into dangerous conflict with a clever and ruthless bishop who will do anything to increase his welath and power. The Evening and the Morning takes us on an epic journey into a historical past rich with ambition and rivalry, death and birth, love and hate. Set in England at the dawn of a new era - the Middle Ages - this thrilling and addictive novel ends where The Pillars of the Earth begins and adds an exttraordinary new chapter to the internationally bestselling Kingsbridge series. --.