The next big name author to make a date at Letchworth’s David’s Bookshop is a familiar face around North Herts.

Thriller writer turned creator of mammoth historical sagas Ken Follett will be helping the Eastcheap shop celebrate the national Books Are My Bag campaign for independent bookshops on Saturday.

Customers are invited to pop along to the store – and perhaps walk away with one of the collectors’ edition bags designed by Tracy Emin.

Ken will be signing his newest novel from The Century Trilogy, Edge of Eternity – which tops 1,000 pages – at 11 am.

It’s the stirring saga of five families living in a world on the brink of oblivion. As the decisions made in the corridors of power bring the world nearly to its end, five families from across the globe are brought together in an unforgettable tale of passion and conflict during the Cold War.

Ken, the husband of former Stevenage MP Barbara Follett, was only 27 when he hit the big time with Eye of the Needle. His medieval Pillars Of The Earth saga, set around the building of a great cathedral, has sold a staggering total of 23 million copies in 30 countries, and worldwide sales of all his books stand at around 150 million copies.