When The Times of London recently asked its readers to vote for the greatest novels of the last 60 years, Follett's The Pillars of the Earth came in at No. 2 (just behind To KillaMockingbird).
There are also many new novels that, like To KillaMockingbird, illuminate social issues not by writing through the broad strokes of history but by developing powerful characters who battle events over which they have little or no control.