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A Place Called Freedom | 
| Author: Ken Follett
Publisher: Fawcett
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  64 reviews
Sales Rank: 34374
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1
ISBN: 0449225151
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780449225158
ASIN: 0449225151
Publication Date: June 30, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
With action that spans two countries on opposite sides of the Atlantic, making a credible audio version of this epic tale is no small feat. Victor Garber, the talented actor of stage and screen (Sleepless in Seattle, I'll Fly Away, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd), does an admirable job. Garber presents the narrative passages in a clear, confident tone and uses his extensive acting experience to create believable voices for the many diverse characters. Follett has thrown in a confusing array of regional accents and disguised characters, but the range of Garber's voice helps keep things straight while heightening the considerable action and communicating the powerful emotions expressed by the very large cast that gives this drama its grand sweep. This intriguing novel hinges on the courageous struggles of the hero, an indentured coal miner who declares, "I'll go anywhere that is not Scotland--anywhere a man can be free." Getting anywhere else is easier said than done, especially when he's caught up in an entanglement of familial responsibility, forbidden love, official deceit, trickery, and violence. Even though there are plenty of breathless moments when proper ladies are tempted by bare-chested hunks, this is much more than just another adventure-filled love story. It's also an intriguing journey into the social and political realities of the late 18th century, when the rising influence of the American colonies was first taking hold and the shining glory of the British Empire had begun its long, slow fade. (Running time: four hours, four cassettes) --George Laney
Product Description
Sentenced to a life of misery in the Scottish coal mines, twenty-one-year-old Mack McAsh hungers for escape. His only ally: beautiful high-born Lizzie Hallim, who is trapped in her own kind of hell.
In 1766, from the teeming streets of London to the infernal hold of a slave ship headed for the American colonies to a sprawling Virginia plantation, two restless young people, separated by politics and position, are bound by their search for a place called freedom....
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| Customer Reviews: Read 59 more reviews...
 Utterly unremarkable, mediocre novel June 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've never read a lot of Ken Follett's work. His two historical fiction novels, World Without End and Pillars of the Earth picqued my interest and led me to delve a little deeper into his earlier efforts. I must say after reading this novel that I was quite disappointed.
A Place Called Freedom is at best quite mediocre. There is virtually nothing to recommend it above hundreds of other similar books. There were flashes of interest concerning mining conditions and southern plantation practices in the mid-18th century, but by and large it was utterly unremarkable.
Hard working, ambitious, intelligent Scottish miner, spends 400 pages being attracted to a young open minded highly sexed heiress both in Scotland and over seas in pre-revolutionary America. I wonder how it ends?
 A Place Called Freedom March 21, 2008
As always, another one of Ken Follett's books that I loved. This book takes you back to Scotland in the 1700's. Even though the book may have had some predictable parts, it was hard to put this book down. The story begins in the coal mines of Scotland and takes you through a beautifully told story of love, lust, greed and envy. A must read for all of Ken Follett fans.
 Why such a dull effort February 19, 2008
While I think it would be difficult for Follett to top a few of his own previous works, this novel falls far short of what I would have expected from such a detail-oriented writer.
The hardcover book was misleading by its sheer size, since one might expect a deep, intense story to unwind over seven or eight hundred pages. It's actually less than four hundred. The jacket also teased me with visions of a long epic spanning several decades, as Follett did so brilliantly with "The Pillars of the Earth," or as in the style of Michener with any one of his books.
As I ploughed through the pages, I kept waiting for a surprise situation to develop. As mentioned by other reviewers, the book is highly predictable, and contains a lot of flat action narrative that I guess is supposed to excite the reader. By the last twenty or so pages, the book had gotten ridiculous and I was skimming over it all just to get it over with.
This book is totally forgettable. What a shame.
Freedom is not necessarily a place but a state of Mind February 11, 2008
I picked this book up at the Madrid Airport on a business trip. I was immediately engrossed, and couldn't wait to turn the next page, reminded me of my independent Scotch Irish roots, and getting to America was so refreshing. A great ,with wild ride with the good, bad and the ugly, in a turbulent, but hopeful time. The love story gives it some glue also.
A easy and entertaining read.
The brutal reality of life in the English colonial world October 2, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The lives of Mack McAsh and Lizzie Hallim become ever more intertwined over the course of this novel, as the story progresses from the coal mining towns in the mountains of Scotland to London and finally across the ocean to the American colonies. This book provides an unflinching description of the brutal conditions of life for the working poor in both the United Kingdom and its colonies in the years leading up to the American war for independence. McAsh's passionate search for his own personal freedom parallel the colonial struggle to determine their own fate. The love story between McAsh and Lizzie seems a bit contrived, but it does provide a powerful tool for the author to contrast the way of life for the rich and poor during this period.
The author has clearly done a great deal of research, and at least in his descriptions of colonial Virginia, has gotten his details correct. In particular, his descriptions of Williamsburg were spot on. This book is both an entertaining diversion and a powerful glimpse into history.
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