World Without End (Kingsbridge, #2)

by Ken Follett

It was said that pilgrims should not spend too much time planning their journey, for they might learn of so many hazards that they would decide not to go.

But much of the woodwork was still joined together, and a mass of interlocked timber floated on the surface, moving slightly on the rise and fall of the water, with the innocent tranquillity of a great beast after it has killed and eaten.

The sight of them all made Caris marvel: each individual had a different life, every one of them rich and complex, with dramas in the past and challenges in the future, happy memories and secret sorrows, and a crowd of friends and enemies and loved ones.