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The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd
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The Forest (original 2000; edition 2000)

by Edward Rutherfurd

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2,101437,638 (3.85)54
Fiction. Literature. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “Rutherford brings England’s New Forest to life” (The Seattle Times) in this companion to the critically acclaimed Sarum

From the time of the Norman Conquest to the present day, the New Forest, along England’s southern coast, has remained an almost mythical place. It is here that Saxon and Norman kings rode forth with their hunting parties, and where William the Conqueror’s son Rufus was mysteriously killed. The mighty oaks of the forest were used to build the ships for Admiral Nelson’s navy, and the fishermen who lived in Christchurch and Lymington helped Sir Francis Drake fight off the Spanish Armada.

The New Forest is the perfect backdrop for the families who people this epic story. The feuds, wars, loyalties, and passions of many hundreds of years reach their climax in a crime that shatters the decorous society of Bath in the days of Jane Austen, whose family lived on the edge of the Forest.

Edward Rutherfurd is a master storyteller whose sense of place and character—both fictional and historical—is at its most vibrant in The Forest.

“As entertaining as Sarum and Rutherford’s other sweeping novel of British history, London.”—The Boston Globe.
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Member:Freeoperant
Title:The Forest
Authors:Edward Rutherfurd
Info:Crown (2000), Hardcover, 624 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:***
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The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd (2000)

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Few places lie closer to the heart of the nation's heritage than the New Forest. Now, Edward Rutherfurd, weaves its history and legends into compelling fiction. From the mysterious killing of King William Rufus, treachery and witchcraft, smuggling and poaching run through this epic tale of well-born ladies, lowly woodsmen, sailors, merchants and Cistercian monks. The feuds, wars, loyalties and passions of generations reach their climax in a crime that shatters the decorous society of Jane Austen's Bath, and whose ramifications continue through the age of the Victorian railway builders to the ecologists of the present day

The edition I had came in at just under 900 pages, and had been sitting on my shelf for a while, as I was avoiding my larger books in favour of the smaller, shorter stories to carry around in my handbag.

A few days off work meanwhile meant that I was able to finally attack this book! I dont know what I was expecting when I brought it and apart from the size, why I kept putting it off. However this is a story about the New Forest (with some of the characters BEING the forest - such as trees and animals), the families who live in and around the place, the effect that nature has on the people around, and the effect that politics and "history" has on the different needs that different people have for a large swathe of land.

So Rutherford has managed to reflect a large amount of the history of Britain in the small details of the "small" people, very few of them being memorable or important but nevertheless a novel way of taking the reader through nearly 1000 years of history.

  nordie | Oct 14, 2023 |
Excellent historic fiction and great preparation to actually travel in South of England ( )
  kakadoo202 | Apr 27, 2022 |
I lost interest 2/3 of the way through. It's entirely possible that I just wasn't in the mood for a sweeping epic saga. ( )
  jennybeast | Apr 14, 2022 |
As a devotee of all things British history... this is a great book. It is almost a series of short stories with the location and families loosely tying it together. Still greatly enjoyed this book and it led me to "Sarum" by the same author and Bernard Cornwell's "Stonehenge". Highly recommend this book if you are enthralled with British history. ( )
1 vote kdjohnson01 | Jul 29, 2021 |
EVen though there's no chance that this book could equal Paris in my mind, I was surprised to find it an over-all ore enjoyable read than London. The characters were a lot more varied (which helped in keeping me interested), but as with Paris finding out about an entirely new set of history was what really kept the story going. The Forest as a setting may not have the dynamic personality of a capital city, but the subset of people who live on or around the land are still a unique group. In fact, the Forest itself is actually more of an influence on these people than the urban settings of London and Paris; the Forest dictates shelter, food, safety, danger, and provides a stage which cannot truely be shaped by the players. ( )
1 vote JaimieRiella | Feb 25, 2021 |
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to the New Forest Museum.
An inspiration and a joy.
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High over Sarum the small plane flew.
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Fiction. Literature. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “Rutherford brings England’s New Forest to life” (The Seattle Times) in this companion to the critically acclaimed Sarum

From the time of the Norman Conquest to the present day, the New Forest, along England’s southern coast, has remained an almost mythical place. It is here that Saxon and Norman kings rode forth with their hunting parties, and where William the Conqueror’s son Rufus was mysteriously killed. The mighty oaks of the forest were used to build the ships for Admiral Nelson’s navy, and the fishermen who lived in Christchurch and Lymington helped Sir Francis Drake fight off the Spanish Armada.

The New Forest is the perfect backdrop for the families who people this epic story. The feuds, wars, loyalties, and passions of many hundreds of years reach their climax in a crime that shatters the decorous society of Bath in the days of Jane Austen, whose family lived on the edge of the Forest.

Edward Rutherfurd is a master storyteller whose sense of place and character—both fictional and historical—is at its most vibrant in The Forest.

“As entertaining as Sarum and Rutherford’s other sweeping novel of British history, London.”—The Boston Globe.

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