The Evening and the Morning

 Fiction by Ken Follett

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is the prequel to The Pillars of the Earth, which was the beginning of a trilogy itself. That means that barnesandnoble.com lists it as book number four in the "Kingsbridge series." However, in this case each story could really be read on its own, because they are linked only by place and each separated by at least a century of time.

This book begins in 997 AD. (For context, The Pillars of the Earth takes place in the mid to late 1100's.) The characters are very good, as I'd expect from Mr. Follett, and the writing really transports you back into the time period.

It's a good book.

I also read recently by this author:  On Wings of Eagles