Full list >

Latest reviews

“Six hundred pages sound long, but this deeply human take on a medieval city and its commerce and aspirations, its violent battles and small intimacies, never feels that way. This sweeping work is as impressive as the cathedral at its center.”

— Publishers’ Weekly - starred, Jun 22 2021

“With intersecting plots about the construction of an enormous church in medieval Alsace, Hopkins has constructed a clever commentary on the ironies of history. He shows how a trading empire can have his roots in something as simple as the theft of a wig, and how forbidden...

— The New York Times Book Review / Editor’s Choice, Jun 22 2021

“Simply and thrillingly, no more or less than a sprawling gothic epic.”

— The TLS, Jun 22 2021

“Another historical novel that took my eye was Cathedral by Ben Hopkins. This adventure, full of intrigue, is set around a religious monument built in the German town of Hagenburg in the 13th century.”

— The Independent, Jun 22 2021

“A memorable tapestry of politics, religion and conflicting human desires.”

— The Sunday Times, Jun 22 2021

“I haven’t been able to put this down! It’s such a great read and it contains so much! Politics and religion, the birth of an artistic sensibility, the rise of global trade, sassy women, fascinating and original characters.”

— BBC Radio 4, Jun 22 2021

“A rollercoaster of medieval life with intrigue, corruption, and power struggles on the one hand, beautifully balanced by integrity, artistic vision and the small joys of ordinary life. A treat for lockdown days.”

— Catherine Dunne, Jun 22 2021

“A varied cast of hugely engaging characters jostles for status, rising and falling according to the whims of pirates and Popes. An immersive read that rattles along at a cracking pace.”

— Richard Beard, Jun 22 2021

“Cathedral is a brilliantly organised mess of great, great characters. It is fascinating, fun, and gripping to the very end.”

— Roddy Doyle, Jun 22 2021

“Set over more than 100 years, from 1229 to 1351, this is the epic tale of the construction of an enormous cathedral in the fictional German town of Hagenburg. Great stuff.”

— The Times / Best Books of the Year So Far, May 24 2021

“One of the novel’s broader purposes, is to dispense with romantic cliché and offer a realistic take on medieval society. ’No chivalry, but marks, shillings and pence’ says one character – to which Hopkins adds stone, glass, cloth, blood, excrement, and other basic...

— The Jewish Chronicle, May 6 2021

“Be prepared to finish the book possibly without pause simply because it is engrossing and the author has the gift to make both his persona and the era they lived in become real for his readers.”

— Waterstones, Mar 23 2021

“Cathedral is a compelling story, or really a series of interwoven stories, which is a pleasure to read and follow. It’s a fast moving, rumbustious book which takes a bit of reading but which I would heartily recommend.”

— Shiny New Books, Mar 16 2021

“A thoroughly engrossing, beautifully told look at human frailty.”

— Kirkus Reviews - starred, Mar 8 2021

“Hopkins weaves together a multitude of voices to examine the relationship between medieval worship and the era’s politics and economics. The resulting epic is both sweeping and human.”

— The New Yorker - Included in “Briefly Noted”, Mar 8 2021

“Cathedral is an engrossing and compelling novel…I felt heartily involved with the characters. I did find it a dark and troubling read (this is not an ‘easy’ period of history) but it is a memorable one. It’s difficult to imagine a more convincing portrayal of life...

— For Winter Nights, Feb 28 2021

“Cathedral was seven years in the writing and perhaps even longer in gestation but the fruits of Hopkins labour justify all the effort. This is an epic teeming with humanity….. A panorama of medieval life that resonates and offers more than a few home truths about human...

— NB Magazine, Feb 23 2021

Screenwriter and novelist Ben Hopkins talks to Tom about his ambitious new novel, Cathedral. It's a portrait of the construction of the medieval period's greatest buildings, featuring a cast of intriguing characters all vying for power - from the bishop to his treasurer to local...

— BBC Radio 4, Feb 11 2021

“Comparisons are inevitable to Ken Follett’s bestselling book about the building of a cathedral, The Pillars of the Earth. Hopkins’s debut is the superior: beautifully written and profoundly insightful about its very human characters and their yearning for both God and...

— The Times / Book of the Month, Jan 13 2021