Ken Folletts Die Tore der Welt

It is once again a time of dramatic unrest. In the middle of the 14th century, the English crown plunges into the fateful Hundred Years' War with France - and thus not only Kingsbridge in great distress. The increasingly expensive campaign and the plague, which appeared for the first time on a devastating scale, were only the external factors that drove the city to the brink of ruin. The murderous intrigues of the clergy and nobility for power and sinecures also claim their victims. In this chaos, a strong woman, the beautiful merchant's daughter Caris, fights for her self-realization, her love and the freedom of the city from the arbitrariness of the powerful.