Master storyteller Ken Follett is one of the best-selling authors of the past 50 years, with over 178 million sales of his 32 books in print.
The Welsh writer's latest book, Never, marks a return to the genre that marked the beginning of his career, the espionage novel.
Set in modern day America, Never - Follett's first contemporary thriller in more than a decade - follows the story of a female President of the United States as she fights a global crisis that threatens to lead to a Third World War that few will survive.
Ken Follett Photo: AFP / FILE
Follett’s novels span human history and he told Jim Mora there is no reason to suppose humanity couldn’t stumble into world war again.
“From my study of the First World War, I'm convinced that it's possible to have a World War that nobody wants, nobody intends, just because events and slightly wrong decisions push you in that direction.
"And it happened in 1914 and I'm convinced that it could happen today.”
Human nature, he says, hasn’t changed much.
“The particular part of human nature I think that's dangerous to us, is the idea that we must appear strong. It's human nature, but it's a side of human nature that's very dangerous, and that we need to be more careful about.”
In Never his protagonists are under pressure to appear strong, he says.
“World leaders in my story Never, the fictional world leaders, are trying to prevent this war, but they are all under pressure. The President of the United States is under pressure from a gung-ho, very right-wing nationalistic rival.
“And in China, the president of China is under pressure from the old communists… we must not allow the West to humiliate us. People who are very emotional about these international conflicts.
“And that's the danger when instead of being rational and calm, we get emotional, and we start waving the flag, that's when we're in the most danger I think.”
The president of the United states in Never is a woman, someone desperately seeking to avoid global conflict.
“I made the President of the United States a woman because I wanted to underline that this is a person who's not seeking a war, who's not gung-ho and belligerent, who doesn't stand up and so we're going to get those swine. But who says, we don't need to fight about this, let's work something out.”
The threat of nuclear conflict pervades the novel, a threat that has considerably worsened in real life, he says.
“I don't think it's [nuclear war] inevitable at all. I think if we behave sensibly, we can avoid it. And, of course, we have avoided it for 70 years.
Photo: Pan Macmillan
“So, there's some evidence to back up what I'm saying. But my point is we are in danger. And I think we've got a little bit complacent about nuclear war, because we thought about it all the time in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
“And then there came a point in the 80s and 90s, when we actually started to reduce the number of nuclear weapons, at least in Europe.
“And we all thought, OK, this is the beginning of a gradual improvement, there will be fewer and fewer nuclear weapons, and the danger will become smaller and smaller.”
But that didn’t happen, he says.
“The arms reduction program came to a halt. And now everybody is upping their nuclear armaments, and there are more and more countries that have nuclear arms.
“I think that that Golden Age in the 80s and 90s lulled us into something of a false sense of security, we stopped worrying so much about nuclear war. And I think we have to start worrying again.”
Follett believes the world is in more danger now than it has ever been in his lifetime.
“I was born in 1949, so nuclear war has always been a threat in my life.
“I think it's more of a threat, because more countries have nuclear weapons and those that have nuclear weapons have more of them. And because China is an unpredictable, rival to us, we don't know what they're going to do.”
Meanwhile other existential threats escalate, he says.
“And then of course, we may all be wiped out by climate change or by a virus. So, we've got all these things to contend with - and they are worse than before.”
He remains a great day dreamer, he says, allowing him to imagine characters.
It’s been this way since childhood, he told Jim Mora.
“When I was seven years old I was always the pirate, or a cowboy, or an astronaut. Now I fantasise a lot, a lot of the time when I'm not at my desk, sometimes just walking around or going to sleep. I sometimes think about my characters.”
He believes this is what makes an author write.
“I don't think you can be an author, at least I don't think you can write novels, unless you do have that kind of imagination.
“It's a gift. And it's been a great blessing to me.”
Unlike his great friend Lee Child, Follett plans his novels meticulously, he says.
“I plot everything in advance. I'm a great planner. My normal schedule is three years to write a long novel. And the first year is research and planning. And I find I have to do that planning.
"Now, my friend Lee Child is the opposite to me. He sits down and he types ‘chapter one’ and then he thinks, OK, what should this book be about? I can't work that way.”
