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The Forest
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.
784 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Edward Rutherfurd
36 books5,209 followersFrancis Edward Wintle, best known under his pen name Edward Rutherfurd, was born in the cathedral city of Salisbury. Educated locally, and at the universities of Cambridge, and Stanford, California, he worked in political research, bookselling and publishing. After numerous attempts to write books and plays, he finally abandoned his career in the book trade in 1983, and returned to his childhood home to write SARUM, a historical novel with a ten-thousand year story, set in the area around the ancient monument of Stonehenge, and Salisbury. Four years later, when the book was published, it became an instant international bestseller, remaining 23 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List. Since then he has written five more bestsellers: RUSSKA, a novel of Russia; LONDON; THE FOREST, set in England's New Forest which lies close by Sarum, and two novels which cover the story of Ireland from the time just before Saint Patrick to the twentieth century. His books have been translated into twenty languages.
Edward has lived in London, New York, New Hampshire and Ireland. He currently divides his time between New England and Europe. He has two children.
Edward Rutherfurd is a Life Member of the Friends of Salisbury Cathedral, the Salisbury Civic Society, and the Friends of Chawton House, which is located in Jane Austen's village and dedicated to the study of women writers. He is also a Patron of the National Theatre of Ireland (the Abbey Theatre) in Dublin.
In 2005, the City of Salisbury commemorated his services to the city by naming one of the streets leading off its medieval market place 'Rutherfurd Walk'.
Edward has lived in London, New York, New Hampshire and Ireland. He currently divides his time between New England and Europe. He has two children.
Edward Rutherfurd is a Life Member of the Friends of Salisbury Cathedral, the Salisbury Civic Society, and the Friends of Chawton House, which is located in Jane Austen's village and dedicated to the study of women writers. He is also a Patron of the National Theatre of Ireland (the Abbey Theatre) in Dublin.
In 2005, the City of Salisbury commemorated his services to the city by naming one of the streets leading off its medieval market place 'Rutherfurd Walk'.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 528 reviews
November 16, 2019
Another intriguing novel by Edward Rutherfurd Through the eyes of the ancient forest near Bath, Rutherfurd takes us through the generations, exploring the great conflicts in English history such as Norman vs. Saxon, Merchant vs. Nobleman, Catholic vs. Protestant, Royalist vs. Cromwellian and Industrialist vs. Conservationist.
He does this through sympathetically tracing the lives people down the generations of seven families: The Albions, the Martells, the Prides, the Seagulls, the Puckles, the Furzeys and the Grockletons.
We read about waxing and waning fortunes and about ongoing family feuds, but always the main interest is through the people themselves of who's trials and tribulations we read about: The experiences of a young Norman noblewoman, Adela De La Roche in 'The Hunt', the Monk, Brother Adam, struggling with the love of a woman, Mary Furzey, in Beuleau. The tragic tale of Alice Lisle, caught up in the political turbulence of the 17 th. Century England of the Stuarts and Cromwell, in Alice , and the pain and redemption of the young lady , Fanny Albion , in 'Albion Park'.
Always to the backdrop of The Forest, and its varied life, it celebrates nature and the irrepressible strength of humanity.
He does this through sympathetically tracing the lives people down the generations of seven families: The Albions, the Martells, the Prides, the Seagulls, the Puckles, the Furzeys and the Grockletons.
We read about waxing and waning fortunes and about ongoing family feuds, but always the main interest is through the people themselves of who's trials and tribulations we read about: The experiences of a young Norman noblewoman, Adela De La Roche in 'The Hunt', the Monk, Brother Adam, struggling with the love of a woman, Mary Furzey, in Beuleau. The tragic tale of Alice Lisle, caught up in the political turbulence of the 17 th. Century England of the Stuarts and Cromwell, in Alice , and the pain and redemption of the young lady , Fanny Albion , in 'Albion Park'.
Always to the backdrop of The Forest, and its varied life, it celebrates nature and the irrepressible strength of humanity.
July 9, 2008
The format of this book is like all of Rutherford's others: historical fiction. This story takes place in a location that is very near Sarum (the subject of his int'l best selling breakout book), but its emphasis is much different: the focus is on how the forest in this area affects the people that live there and vice versa. You get wafts of the big events (e.g. Queen Elizabeth and her Golden Age, the Spanish inquisition) but everyday details concern how deers and oak trees mature. I love Rutherford's books---I always learn something and, although the characters change in each chapter, there's aspects of each one that I can connect with as a reader. I don't think this is Rutherford's best book (hence the 4 stars) but it was good enough to compel me to read London sometime soon.
December 28, 2021
**Should Read as 4.5 Stars!**
Read this book in 2009, and its a standalone book about the New Forest in the South of England and its history.
Set between the years AD 1099 until 2000, this is the story of the Forest with families who are familiar and well-known to this wooded area of land between the river Avon and the port of Southampton.
In this story several families will be highlighted with their own history in this land of woodmen, sailors, smugglers and death.
What will follow is an very eventful story told by the author in a very entertaining fashion about this Forest and its inhabitants, and everything that's happened in this area and about some families who have strong connections and relations within this these woods.
Very much recommended, for this is a exciting standalone book about the New Forest, and that's why I like to call this story: "A Wonderful New Forest"!
Read this book in 2009, and its a standalone book about the New Forest in the South of England and its history.
Set between the years AD 1099 until 2000, this is the story of the Forest with families who are familiar and well-known to this wooded area of land between the river Avon and the port of Southampton.
In this story several families will be highlighted with their own history in this land of woodmen, sailors, smugglers and death.
What will follow is an very eventful story told by the author in a very entertaining fashion about this Forest and its inhabitants, and everything that's happened in this area and about some families who have strong connections and relations within this these woods.
Very much recommended, for this is a exciting standalone book about the New Forest, and that's why I like to call this story: "A Wonderful New Forest"!
December 18, 2017
Forest pertains to an area on the southern coast of England at its central point with Lymington in the south and Lyndhurst in the north. The story begins in 1099 with introduction of Forest’s harsh laws and “the ancient common right of the Forest folk.” It is during the time of Rufus, the Norman King and upon his death, his quiet brother Henry succeeds him.
The colorful characters bring the story alive, such as a Godwin Pride trying to regain the land by moving fence at night. Adela de la Roche, a Norman girl of impoverished but noble class dreams about a rich noble man, however at the end she marries Edgar, a man of defeated Saxon class. “She would lose a little face, but not too much.” Edgar comes from family of foresters who have intimate knowledge of the Forest.
Within the Forest a sanctuary is erected, the abbey of Beaulieu. It follows the Cistercians order where monks are to “lead a communal life of constant prayer balanced by physical labor, and they must take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Obedience and even chastity, more or less, had usually been achieved. But poverty was always a problem. No matter how simply they began, monasteries always finished up rich.” The white monks are quite interesting characters themselves. Luke a free-spirited character enjoys working at the abbey, but at the same time cherishes his freedom of the Forest. However, this peacefulness is disrupted by an event, which puts him on a run.
The story continues until modern era through the rule of King James of Scotland; a religiously tolerant King for whom Europe was not ready. Through the time of Restoration of merry monarch, King Charles II, “…whatever his faults, he had no appetite for vengeance. (…) He was a tolerant man and, unlike his father, his tolerance seemed to extend to religion. (…) The merry monarch was always on the lookout for extra income and, like his father before his father, he had realized after a time that the royal forests might be a useful asset. The second King Charles was going about things in a much jollier manner; but he was just as thorough.”
18th century England sees progress towards religious tolerance. “Catholics and dissenters might practice their religion, but they could not attend university or hold any public office.” It also sees a development in a quite different area. With the ships bringing goods a new business develops – Free Trade, which is a name for smuggling. “The tax imposed on tea was so high that ordinary folk would not afford to pay it.” So they find a way with Free Trade.
19th century England and its industrial era bring a steam engine smoking its way even through the Forest. “But as well as paying compensation to the Forest for this intrusion, the director of the line, had agreed to follow a winding route that would inflict minimum damage on the woodlands so that his line was known as Castleman’s Corkscrew.”
In 1851, with the Deer Removal Act, all deer “were to die to make way for more trees.” Since, “it was calculated that each deer killed actually cost the Crown the astonishing sum of a hundred pounds! (…) Surely it was time to create tidy plantations in the Forest’s unreformed wilderness.”
“The New Forest Act of 1877 was to settle the shape of the New Forest for generations to come. The ancient trees were to be protected and not pull down. The commoners (…) were explicitly to have their year-round grazing on the Forest.”
If you read any of E.R. books and you liked it, then you most likely would like this book. I haven’t read all of his books yet, but it seems as he carries exactly the same style of writing in all his books. If you haven’t read any of his books, it’s worth giving it a try if you enjoy colorful characters set against the history.
@FB: Best Historical Fiction
The colorful characters bring the story alive, such as a Godwin Pride trying to regain the land by moving fence at night. Adela de la Roche, a Norman girl of impoverished but noble class dreams about a rich noble man, however at the end she marries Edgar, a man of defeated Saxon class. “She would lose a little face, but not too much.” Edgar comes from family of foresters who have intimate knowledge of the Forest.
Within the Forest a sanctuary is erected, the abbey of Beaulieu. It follows the Cistercians order where monks are to “lead a communal life of constant prayer balanced by physical labor, and they must take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Obedience and even chastity, more or less, had usually been achieved. But poverty was always a problem. No matter how simply they began, monasteries always finished up rich.” The white monks are quite interesting characters themselves. Luke a free-spirited character enjoys working at the abbey, but at the same time cherishes his freedom of the Forest. However, this peacefulness is disrupted by an event, which puts him on a run.
The story continues until modern era through the rule of King James of Scotland; a religiously tolerant King for whom Europe was not ready. Through the time of Restoration of merry monarch, King Charles II, “…whatever his faults, he had no appetite for vengeance. (…) He was a tolerant man and, unlike his father, his tolerance seemed to extend to religion. (…) The merry monarch was always on the lookout for extra income and, like his father before his father, he had realized after a time that the royal forests might be a useful asset. The second King Charles was going about things in a much jollier manner; but he was just as thorough.”
18th century England sees progress towards religious tolerance. “Catholics and dissenters might practice their religion, but they could not attend university or hold any public office.” It also sees a development in a quite different area. With the ships bringing goods a new business develops – Free Trade, which is a name for smuggling. “The tax imposed on tea was so high that ordinary folk would not afford to pay it.” So they find a way with Free Trade.
19th century England and its industrial era bring a steam engine smoking its way even through the Forest. “But as well as paying compensation to the Forest for this intrusion, the director of the line, had agreed to follow a winding route that would inflict minimum damage on the woodlands so that his line was known as Castleman’s Corkscrew.”
In 1851, with the Deer Removal Act, all deer “were to die to make way for more trees.” Since, “it was calculated that each deer killed actually cost the Crown the astonishing sum of a hundred pounds! (…) Surely it was time to create tidy plantations in the Forest’s unreformed wilderness.”
“The New Forest Act of 1877 was to settle the shape of the New Forest for generations to come. The ancient trees were to be protected and not pull down. The commoners (…) were explicitly to have their year-round grazing on the Forest.”
If you read any of E.R. books and you liked it, then you most likely would like this book. I haven’t read all of his books yet, but it seems as he carries exactly the same style of writing in all his books. If you haven’t read any of his books, it’s worth giving it a try if you enjoy colorful characters set against the history.
@FB: Best Historical Fiction
August 5, 2009
It is rare when I read a book, that I wish for it to end for other reasons that I want to find out what happens to the characters I have come to know and like. This book, however, I just wished to end so I could get it over with and move on to something better.
The book is composed of several short stories taking place in and around the New Forrest, telling stories about the people living there and following various families as they evolve through the span of the novel (some 900 years).
This idea is good and the amount of research gone into this book is staggering. But what is lacking is the execution. The book doesn't read well. It is written well enough - but the characters are flat and one-dimensional and their actions and thoughts don't always make sense. They sometimes break character in a way that isn't plausible. Adding to that is the fact that the stories are for the most part not very interesting - they are supposed to be used to tell the story of the New Forest, I think, but Rutherford doesn't really succeed in creating great small stories about life in the various times or creating a grand story about the forest. It all just fall flat and becomes uninteresting - and for a novel of 800+ pages, you really expect more.
Individual review of each story below:
The Rufus Stone & The Forest
This is sort of a frame around the rest of the book and begins and ends it. We follow a young woman - a Pride - as she is investigating the forest and figuring out how to make a television program about it and discovers that she herself has roots in the forest.
The Hunt
The first part of this book takes place in 1099 and features two parallel stories. One about a young deer and her search for her first mate and the other, larger part, about a young Norman woman, Adela, and her search for a proper husband. The two stories intertwine when Adela saves the deer from being killed by a hunting party. Otherwise, it's a rather simple story about how Adela are pretty much on her own, except for a cousin, and how in her search for a husband, she falls in love with one man and hears rumours about an assassination attempt on the king William Rufus.
I didn't care much about this story - it was not very interesting, too simple and the plot was too straightforward without any twists.
Beaulieu
This second story begins in 1294. A young man, a lay brother in the monastery Beaulieu, accidentally hits another monk, and thinking he has killed him, flees and goes into hiding. The young man is Luke Pride and the entire Pride clan gets into a fight with the Furzey clan because John Pride has a pony that Tom Furzey claims belong to him. This put Mary, Luke and John's sister and Tom's wife, in an akward position and causes a lot of trouble between Mary and Tom. One day, the monk brother Adam helps Mary after Tom hits her and the monk and Mary start an affair. But such things are hard to conceal in the forrest...
This was a better story than the first one - I actually cared about what happened to the characters in this one.
Lymington
In 1480 we follow two young boys living in Lymington. The two boys are friends even though they come from different social classes. It must have been exciting to have been a boy back then - they go dragon hunting and are aboard a ship taking part in a race. But more than anything, this is a story of the relationship between fathers and sons, especially between Jonathan Totton and his father who are alone with each other after the mother died and are having problems with finding the right way to communicate with each other.
Again, an okay story - but I don't know if it's just my not being fan of short stories that makes me feel that each of these stories are too simple and too short to really get you to care for the characters.
But I liked the little fact that if a ship was wrecked, more often than not nobody survived - because the cargo belonged to whoever found it, as long as there were no survivors...!
The Armada Tree
This fourth story takes place in 1587, a time of religious trouble in England. Because of Henry VII, England is no longer a part of the Catholic church but some of the English people still want to be. One of these is Clement Albion's mother, a devout Catholic woman. Her daughter is maried to a Spanish man and she works hard to make sure the Spanish will attack England and bring it back to the Catholic Church. One of her ways of doing this is promising that when the Spanish attack, Clement will support them, along with the men he commands as being in charge of part of the English defense. Clement is having trouble deciding which cause to support so he strings both sides along. He seems rather weak-minded in some ways - but towards the end of the story he takes a rather drastic decision, a decision that seemed rather out of character. This ruined the story somewhat for me...
Alice
This story takes place from 1635 to 1685 - before, during and after the reign of Cromwell. It follows Alice Albion from a young age to her death. Because of her husband, she becomes a regicide (a person supporting the execution of King Charles I) and it follows her life as such, and what happens during Cromwell and after he dies (I didn't know they dug him up and hanged him posthumously!) and a new king takes the throne. Also, her life as a mother and a wife and as a part of the Forest with both suporters and adversaries surrounding her.
The most interesting part of this story was the portrayal of the English society at that time - I remember reading about Cromwell in Children of the New Forrest when I was a child and I find this period very interesting and must admit that I know too little about it.
This is the second longest story in the book but because it covers fifty years, it still feels to short and I didn't really feel that I got under Alice's skin - I didn't really get to know her. This story could possible have made into a novel and through one person's life have shown the transformation of the English society in these 50 years. As it stands here, it only touch the surface unfortunately.
Albion Park
This, the longest of the stories, takes place 1794-1804 and has two stories mainly. Firstly, we follow Fanny, Alice Albion's great grand daughter, and her life with her old father and aunt and her search for a suitable husband. We also follows the Grockletons. He is working as a Customs officer and trying to stop the vast smuggling going on at this period of English history and she's working on making it in society in Lymington.
Again, the characters don't work. For instance, at one point Fanny, who is a well-behaved and decent young woman, promises that she will not speak with a certain gentleman and she keeps her word - but when the person she promised it too dies, she just breaks it without a second thought - and she just doesn't strike me as the type of person who would do that. It's not in character.
Another thing, that doesn't work is, that when in the end we find out who's behind the smuggling, it's not really directly stated but more hinted at - but the author can't just let it be with the hinting. He sort of explicitly tells us that he is hinting at something... And to me, the revelation destroyed part of the earlier book. When an author tells us what people think, it seems strange that they don't even themselves seem to be aware of what they have done and are doing before the author sees it fit to tell the reader. To me, he sometimes becomes too clever for his own good - and thereby destroys the realism of his characters and the value of the story.
Pride of the Forest
This final story is about saving the forest and making sure it's kept for future generations as a place of beauty and historical importance.
It takes place from 1868 to 1925 and is also the story of a new era, an era of cars and trains and the like.
The book is composed of several short stories taking place in and around the New Forrest, telling stories about the people living there and following various families as they evolve through the span of the novel (some 900 years).
This idea is good and the amount of research gone into this book is staggering. But what is lacking is the execution. The book doesn't read well. It is written well enough - but the characters are flat and one-dimensional and their actions and thoughts don't always make sense. They sometimes break character in a way that isn't plausible. Adding to that is the fact that the stories are for the most part not very interesting - they are supposed to be used to tell the story of the New Forest, I think, but Rutherford doesn't really succeed in creating great small stories about life in the various times or creating a grand story about the forest. It all just fall flat and becomes uninteresting - and for a novel of 800+ pages, you really expect more.
Individual review of each story below:
The Rufus Stone & The Forest
This is sort of a frame around the rest of the book and begins and ends it. We follow a young woman - a Pride - as she is investigating the forest and figuring out how to make a television program about it and discovers that she herself has roots in the forest.
The Hunt
The first part of this book takes place in 1099 and features two parallel stories. One about a young deer and her search for her first mate and the other, larger part, about a young Norman woman, Adela, and her search for a proper husband. The two stories intertwine when Adela saves the deer from being killed by a hunting party. Otherwise, it's a rather simple story about how Adela are pretty much on her own, except for a cousin, and how in her search for a husband, she falls in love with one man and hears rumours about an assassination attempt on the king William Rufus.
I didn't care much about this story - it was not very interesting, too simple and the plot was too straightforward without any twists.
Beaulieu
This second story begins in 1294. A young man, a lay brother in the monastery Beaulieu, accidentally hits another monk, and thinking he has killed him, flees and goes into hiding. The young man is Luke Pride and the entire Pride clan gets into a fight with the Furzey clan because John Pride has a pony that Tom Furzey claims belong to him. This put Mary, Luke and John's sister and Tom's wife, in an akward position and causes a lot of trouble between Mary and Tom. One day, the monk brother Adam helps Mary after Tom hits her and the monk and Mary start an affair. But such things are hard to conceal in the forrest...
This was a better story than the first one - I actually cared about what happened to the characters in this one.
Lymington
In 1480 we follow two young boys living in Lymington. The two boys are friends even though they come from different social classes. It must have been exciting to have been a boy back then - they go dragon hunting and are aboard a ship taking part in a race. But more than anything, this is a story of the relationship between fathers and sons, especially between Jonathan Totton and his father who are alone with each other after the mother died and are having problems with finding the right way to communicate with each other.
Again, an okay story - but I don't know if it's just my not being fan of short stories that makes me feel that each of these stories are too simple and too short to really get you to care for the characters.
But I liked the little fact that if a ship was wrecked, more often than not nobody survived - because the cargo belonged to whoever found it, as long as there were no survivors...!
The Armada Tree
This fourth story takes place in 1587, a time of religious trouble in England. Because of Henry VII, England is no longer a part of the Catholic church but some of the English people still want to be. One of these is Clement Albion's mother, a devout Catholic woman. Her daughter is maried to a Spanish man and she works hard to make sure the Spanish will attack England and bring it back to the Catholic Church. One of her ways of doing this is promising that when the Spanish attack, Clement will support them, along with the men he commands as being in charge of part of the English defense. Clement is having trouble deciding which cause to support so he strings both sides along. He seems rather weak-minded in some ways - but towards the end of the story he takes a rather drastic decision, a decision that seemed rather out of character. This ruined the story somewhat for me...
Alice
This story takes place from 1635 to 1685 - before, during and after the reign of Cromwell. It follows Alice Albion from a young age to her death. Because of her husband, she becomes a regicide (a person supporting the execution of King Charles I) and it follows her life as such, and what happens during Cromwell and after he dies (I didn't know they dug him up and hanged him posthumously!) and a new king takes the throne. Also, her life as a mother and a wife and as a part of the Forest with both suporters and adversaries surrounding her.
The most interesting part of this story was the portrayal of the English society at that time - I remember reading about Cromwell in Children of the New Forrest when I was a child and I find this period very interesting and must admit that I know too little about it.
This is the second longest story in the book but because it covers fifty years, it still feels to short and I didn't really feel that I got under Alice's skin - I didn't really get to know her. This story could possible have made into a novel and through one person's life have shown the transformation of the English society in these 50 years. As it stands here, it only touch the surface unfortunately.
Albion Park
This, the longest of the stories, takes place 1794-1804 and has two stories mainly. Firstly, we follow Fanny, Alice Albion's great grand daughter, and her life with her old father and aunt and her search for a suitable husband. We also follows the Grockletons. He is working as a Customs officer and trying to stop the vast smuggling going on at this period of English history and she's working on making it in society in Lymington.
Again, the characters don't work. For instance, at one point Fanny, who is a well-behaved and decent young woman, promises that she will not speak with a certain gentleman and she keeps her word - but when the person she promised it too dies, she just breaks it without a second thought - and she just doesn't strike me as the type of person who would do that. It's not in character.
Another thing, that doesn't work is, that when in the end we find out who's behind the smuggling, it's not really directly stated but more hinted at - but the author can't just let it be with the hinting. He sort of explicitly tells us that he is hinting at something... And to me, the revelation destroyed part of the earlier book. When an author tells us what people think, it seems strange that they don't even themselves seem to be aware of what they have done and are doing before the author sees it fit to tell the reader. To me, he sometimes becomes too clever for his own good - and thereby destroys the realism of his characters and the value of the story.
Pride of the Forest
This final story is about saving the forest and making sure it's kept for future generations as a place of beauty and historical importance.
It takes place from 1868 to 1925 and is also the story of a new era, an era of cars and trains and the like.
August 3, 2016
The Forest stars England's New Forest over a thousand years of development. I read it back in 2005, and still remember much of the plot today; in other words, it's a story that stays in a reader's mind. Through everyday conflicts in his characters lives--fighting over a lover, family disputes, making enough money to feed yourself, living under corrupt leaders--Rutherfurd wrote culture and history with a human element. It's fascinating to think of the sheer number of people who have lived and died before this generation, like us and yet not because of cultural and technological differences.
I loved how well he wrote these women; very few writers grasp the opposite gender. The women of The Forest believe they should be submissive and that men are superior as that's how they've been schooled...yet they are resourceful, brilliant, strong without turning into anachronisms.
This is not light reading. Though Rutherfurd gives many characters happy endings, they don't all get away unscathed. The characters are also historically accurate, which means uncomfortable prejudices and practices are considered normal and go unquestioned, even when you desperately want characters to ask some questions. Also, at nearly 800 pages, it takes time to get through The Forest even if you're a quick reader.
The Forest is a book to be savored and read more than once to pick up on the rich detail. It's dense in the best possible way.
-Elizabeth Reuter
Author, Demon of Renaissance Drive
I loved how well he wrote these women; very few writers grasp the opposite gender. The women of The Forest believe they should be submissive and that men are superior as that's how they've been schooled...yet they are resourceful, brilliant, strong without turning into anachronisms.
This is not light reading. Though Rutherfurd gives many characters happy endings, they don't all get away unscathed. The characters are also historically accurate, which means uncomfortable prejudices and practices are considered normal and go unquestioned, even when you desperately want characters to ask some questions. Also, at nearly 800 pages, it takes time to get through The Forest even if you're a quick reader.
The Forest is a book to be savored and read more than once to pick up on the rich detail. It's dense in the best possible way.
-Elizabeth Reuter
Author, Demon of Renaissance Drive
January 4, 2008
This is my favorite of the ones about England. It spans a large area with a lot of folklore, witchcraft, and strong females.
January 25, 2008
Whereas
London: The Novel
focuses on, obviously, the city of London,
The Forest
focuses on the development of England as a whole over the centuries. Much of English history concerned the independent hamlets and regions that felt very little connection to the King and to London until the past few hundred years. It was fun to read about the small agrarian communities with their nearby abbeys and giant expanses of forest land. Many things influenced these small communities as England became a more sophisticated country, like the shipbuilding yards (situated close to those plentiful forests for the wood) and the introduction of the steam engine train.
December 22, 2018
Very big book for a very long period of time covering a section of England and the people who lived there. He won my admiration with respect to descriptions of the land as well as the people he molded to bring the major historical events to life in how they impacted this populace over 900 years.
September 26, 2018
Edward Rutherfurd really does like to write large volumes of historical fiction. Here, he focuses a multi-generational epic within England's New Forest, that swath of Southern England that still remains with its many unique birds and mammals.
The New Forest is famous for being the location where King William II (Rufus) was killed with an arrow. I say "killed" because I believe his younger brother, Henry III, ordered the "accident". The book begins at this event and introduces us to the Forest and to each family that will be featured throughout the book. The aristocracy, the gentry, the forest dwellers; each has its own heroes and villains, which makes some of the stories interesting and some of the stories...middling.
While the characters are fictional, Rutherfurd puts his back into the history of each location, so we learn about smuggling, treachery, politics, and, surprisingly, nature. I'm not sure I had a particular favourite or cheered for any particular family, but I did enjoy Lymington because it centered closer to the coast and the Isle of Wight.
When the big easterly comes down the English Channel, the Isle of Wight offers no protection. Far from it. The peaceful paradise becomes a raging brownish cauldron. The island disappears behind grey sheets of moving vapour.
Also, Alice, which tells the (long) story of Alice Lisle, the last woman to be beheaded in England. Caught harbouring fugitives from the Monmouth Rebellion, she was basically condemned based on the fact that her late husband had helped to execute Charles I, so James II was getting his own back. Heartrending.
I don't think I'll be adding any more Rutherfurd epics to my library, but it was a fun, but very long, read.
Book Season = Winter (tomes that sprawl)
The New Forest is famous for being the location where King William II (Rufus) was killed with an arrow. I say "killed" because I believe his younger brother, Henry III, ordered the "accident". The book begins at this event and introduces us to the Forest and to each family that will be featured throughout the book. The aristocracy, the gentry, the forest dwellers; each has its own heroes and villains, which makes some of the stories interesting and some of the stories...middling.
While the characters are fictional, Rutherfurd puts his back into the history of each location, so we learn about smuggling, treachery, politics, and, surprisingly, nature. I'm not sure I had a particular favourite or cheered for any particular family, but I did enjoy Lymington because it centered closer to the coast and the Isle of Wight.
When the big easterly comes down the English Channel, the Isle of Wight offers no protection. Far from it. The peaceful paradise becomes a raging brownish cauldron. The island disappears behind grey sheets of moving vapour.
Also, Alice, which tells the (long) story of Alice Lisle, the last woman to be beheaded in England. Caught harbouring fugitives from the Monmouth Rebellion, she was basically condemned based on the fact that her late husband had helped to execute Charles I, so James II was getting his own back. Heartrending.
I don't think I'll be adding any more Rutherfurd epics to my library, but it was a fun, but very long, read.
Book Season = Winter (tomes that sprawl)
December 13, 2009
This is the second Rutherfurd book I have read and it was just wonderful. I learnt so much about the New Forest and its ways and the lives of the people who lived there. I love his books but because they are so huge they take me such a long time to read.
Back Cover Blurb:
Few places lie closer to the heart of the nation's heritage than the New Forest. The author 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. From the cruel forest laws of the Normans to the danger of the Spanish Armada, from the free-roaming herds of ponies and wild deer to the mighty oaks which gave Nelson his navy, Rutherfurd has captured the essence of this ancient place. Forest and sea: there is no more perfect English heartland.
Back Cover Blurb:
Few places lie closer to the heart of the nation's heritage than the New Forest. The author 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. From the cruel forest laws of the Normans to the danger of the Spanish Armada, from the free-roaming herds of ponies and wild deer to the mighty oaks which gave Nelson his navy, Rutherfurd has captured the essence of this ancient place. Forest and sea: there is no more perfect English heartland.
November 22, 2017
I love this book.
It takes time. But it rewards. It helps if you know the area.
I live within a mile of Hale on the edge of the New Forest, and daily walk Charlie there. When we moved here 18 years ago, from London, it was like being born into a new world. What brought us here was, we used to borrow a little upside‑down house in Hyde, just below Fordingbridge; the bedroom and bathroom were downstairs and the kitchen and lounge upstairs. The previous owners had a glass roof so they could gaze at the stars at night before dropping off. After 20 years in London, where you only ever saw the North Star and Venus and Mercury, on those visits to Mousehole, we'd stand on the wooden balcony at night and see the haze of the Milky Way reveal itself into a billion suns. The ponies and the donkeys used to visit the back fence because of the long lush grass in the garden. The boys were three and five when we started coming down. The donkeys would try to eat Josh's hair because it was blond. Jamie suddenly drew his first three‑dimensional drawing — and hasn't stopped drawing since. We'd stroll down to the ford below and were surprised to find grass snakes both short and thick as your wrist in the bracken, and long and emerald sunning on the shingle paths deep in the untroubled forest. One day as I was drifting off, lying in the sun on a grass bank by the stream in Hale, Jamie ran to me, "Dad, Dad, look at this!" It was an adder, just a foot long, small and thin and jagged with black. I had never seen a snake reverse before, as it backed into the bracken.
A few years after we moved down Coco joined us, a chocolate Lab, and the next year, Jessie, a colly‑lab cross (supposedly). We loved them for fifteen years. Coco rampaged through the high bracken and woods, Jessie bolted through the streams. We went everywhere in the Forest with them, Bolderwood, Brockenhurst, all about the north, Woodgreen, Nomansland, Fritham, Frogham, Gorley, over the years. We went everywhere. It was a magical picturesque world, pigs in the woods, ponies and foals, great secret dells and purple heaths, the most beautiful thrilling woodland walks. But what I love most about the Forest is the shingle streams: shingle from cream to ochre, little ochre depths, salmon mud banks with seams of blue‑grey silt and sand, like the most gorgeous marble imaginable. We've just played in one of them down in Hale Purlieu. Charlie, our new collie puppy, is getting brave with the water, and he runs flat‑out, ears flat and a wide delicious grin, through the bracken and heather. (Coco went a couple of years ago now, Jessie last October; it didn't feel right not having a doggie about our lives. Then Josh found Charlie. What a beauty!)
So knowing these places quite intimately, and many of the others brought alive in the book, it was a delight to read how Rutherfurd wove his historic tales of family feuds and romances through the Forest and all these places. He did it so superbly in Sarum, that was an outstanding experience. I read it soon after we started coming down, finished it just before we moved here. It brought the whole area alive. Rutherfurd is excellent at his family lines set against huge historic events.
Although in The Forest the beginnings are of the distant past, the book took off with Beaulieu, and even though I was not especially enamoured by the coastal tale of Lymington, which was, even so, still of interest, I was enthralled by the Armada piece, and fascinated all the way through by the historical setting and explanations, which encouraged me to look up the kings and queens and learn more about those events. I have never been particularly interested in history prior to the twentieth‑century; now, though, Rutherfurd so brought all these episodes to life, I have an awakened interest: Rufus the Red, Edward Longshanks, John the Bad, the merry monarch Charles I (a little Dickensian satire splashed these pages), the awful James II, and so on. What criminals they all were! I loved the story of Alice Lisle, which inn we used to frequent down by Moyles Court as visitors to the Forest. I enjoyed the Austen‑like Albion story, almost a book in itself; his characterisation was excellent, although the trial based in Bath distracted, I felt, and did not satisfy. But because Rutherfurd wove such strong and varying characters throughout each historic episode — some real, others invented — it brought every section alive, entertained throughout, and taught me a great deal about Forest ways and terms and practices, about nature's way, and about how all this interacted with the historical setting and how those historic episodes involved and changed the Forest.
The Forest is best read if you have two or three weeks to come down and explore the place. It is my home, this part of the world, I felt so strongly from the beginning that I belonged here. The Forest sat on my shelf for thirteen years waiting to be read while I was distracted elsewhere in the world because of my work. How facile that working life compared to the rich depth of spiritual, soulful belonging which living in and around the New Forest has been, and still is. It was high time I came back home and got back into the Forest. Rutherfurd has brought it alive for me again — although I do not think I can ever regain that sense of love and wonder and belonging, that exhilaration I felt during the first few years visiting and living here. Sheer wonder, it was.
Geographically less explorative and less grand than Sarum, The Forest is nonetheless a wholesome and reviving experience, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I must read Sarum again, now.
It takes time. But it rewards. It helps if you know the area.
I live within a mile of Hale on the edge of the New Forest, and daily walk Charlie there. When we moved here 18 years ago, from London, it was like being born into a new world. What brought us here was, we used to borrow a little upside‑down house in Hyde, just below Fordingbridge; the bedroom and bathroom were downstairs and the kitchen and lounge upstairs. The previous owners had a glass roof so they could gaze at the stars at night before dropping off. After 20 years in London, where you only ever saw the North Star and Venus and Mercury, on those visits to Mousehole, we'd stand on the wooden balcony at night and see the haze of the Milky Way reveal itself into a billion suns. The ponies and the donkeys used to visit the back fence because of the long lush grass in the garden. The boys were three and five when we started coming down. The donkeys would try to eat Josh's hair because it was blond. Jamie suddenly drew his first three‑dimensional drawing — and hasn't stopped drawing since. We'd stroll down to the ford below and were surprised to find grass snakes both short and thick as your wrist in the bracken, and long and emerald sunning on the shingle paths deep in the untroubled forest. One day as I was drifting off, lying in the sun on a grass bank by the stream in Hale, Jamie ran to me, "Dad, Dad, look at this!" It was an adder, just a foot long, small and thin and jagged with black. I had never seen a snake reverse before, as it backed into the bracken.
A few years after we moved down Coco joined us, a chocolate Lab, and the next year, Jessie, a colly‑lab cross (supposedly). We loved them for fifteen years. Coco rampaged through the high bracken and woods, Jessie bolted through the streams. We went everywhere in the Forest with them, Bolderwood, Brockenhurst, all about the north, Woodgreen, Nomansland, Fritham, Frogham, Gorley, over the years. We went everywhere. It was a magical picturesque world, pigs in the woods, ponies and foals, great secret dells and purple heaths, the most beautiful thrilling woodland walks. But what I love most about the Forest is the shingle streams: shingle from cream to ochre, little ochre depths, salmon mud banks with seams of blue‑grey silt and sand, like the most gorgeous marble imaginable. We've just played in one of them down in Hale Purlieu. Charlie, our new collie puppy, is getting brave with the water, and he runs flat‑out, ears flat and a wide delicious grin, through the bracken and heather. (Coco went a couple of years ago now, Jessie last October; it didn't feel right not having a doggie about our lives. Then Josh found Charlie. What a beauty!)
So knowing these places quite intimately, and many of the others brought alive in the book, it was a delight to read how Rutherfurd wove his historic tales of family feuds and romances through the Forest and all these places. He did it so superbly in Sarum, that was an outstanding experience. I read it soon after we started coming down, finished it just before we moved here. It brought the whole area alive. Rutherfurd is excellent at his family lines set against huge historic events.
Although in The Forest the beginnings are of the distant past, the book took off with Beaulieu, and even though I was not especially enamoured by the coastal tale of Lymington, which was, even so, still of interest, I was enthralled by the Armada piece, and fascinated all the way through by the historical setting and explanations, which encouraged me to look up the kings and queens and learn more about those events. I have never been particularly interested in history prior to the twentieth‑century; now, though, Rutherfurd so brought all these episodes to life, I have an awakened interest: Rufus the Red, Edward Longshanks, John the Bad, the merry monarch Charles I (a little Dickensian satire splashed these pages), the awful James II, and so on. What criminals they all were! I loved the story of Alice Lisle, which inn we used to frequent down by Moyles Court as visitors to the Forest. I enjoyed the Austen‑like Albion story, almost a book in itself; his characterisation was excellent, although the trial based in Bath distracted, I felt, and did not satisfy. But because Rutherfurd wove such strong and varying characters throughout each historic episode — some real, others invented — it brought every section alive, entertained throughout, and taught me a great deal about Forest ways and terms and practices, about nature's way, and about how all this interacted with the historical setting and how those historic episodes involved and changed the Forest.
The Forest is best read if you have two or three weeks to come down and explore the place. It is my home, this part of the world, I felt so strongly from the beginning that I belonged here. The Forest sat on my shelf for thirteen years waiting to be read while I was distracted elsewhere in the world because of my work. How facile that working life compared to the rich depth of spiritual, soulful belonging which living in and around the New Forest has been, and still is. It was high time I came back home and got back into the Forest. Rutherfurd has brought it alive for me again — although I do not think I can ever regain that sense of love and wonder and belonging, that exhilaration I felt during the first few years visiting and living here. Sheer wonder, it was.
Geographically less explorative and less grand than Sarum, The Forest is nonetheless a wholesome and reviving experience, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I must read Sarum again, now.
August 20, 2016
This is an exception to my usual reading but not in a good way. I have read a couple of his other books and swore to venture there no more. They should be just the sort of thing to appeal to me but they so very don't! As I came in to write this I noticed that he cites James A. Michener as an influence. Well. Says it all - he's one of the few others to reside on a mental list of 'never touch that author again.'
It had been a long time and there was the book so I thought I'd give him a second chance. Bad idea - the man can't write, characterisation, such as it is, is wooden and his historical howlers flew like goose feathers from a split duvet in the wind. The writing has improved marginally since Sarum: The Novel of England but not by much.
I renew my vow to avoid like the plague in future. How he is a best seller boggles my mind.
It had been a long time and there was the book so I thought I'd give him a second chance. Bad idea - the man can't write, characterisation, such as it is, is wooden and his historical howlers flew like goose feathers from a split duvet in the wind. The writing has improved marginally since Sarum: The Novel of England but not by much.
I renew my vow to avoid like the plague in future. How he is a best seller boggles my mind.
July 28, 2018
I love Edward Rutherfurd books, he uses the same system for all books. They are about a specific geographical area (country or area - on this occasion the New Forest on the South Coast of England) and we are lead through the development of that area - from its inception through until modern day. We learn about the history, the way people lived and are guided through time using a few families and their relationships in different generations. I'm never very good explaining why I like books but this was fantastic. The novel and relationships between people would stand alone but the fact that you learn about how people were living in the New Forest through its history makes it even better. The books are always long but well worth reading.
May 17, 2022
This is one of my very favorite types of books: very long, historical fiction based on real history, following a family throughout multiple generations. In this case, the backbone of the book is The New Forest in England. The story takes place over approx. one thousand years and follows the same group of families in the same area over generations. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. I'm already obsessed with British medieval history and visiting The Forest in question is on my bucket list, so this book was right up my alley. I'm certain I'll reread in the future.
I have only one slight complaint, and it isn't a complaint about the story at all. There is no unabridged audiobook (!!!) so I was only able to read the book when I had time to sit down with my paperback. This bummed me out so much because it took ages for me to finish when I really just wanted to inhale it as fast as I could.
My first book by Edward Rutherfurd, and I'm super excited to read some of the others I have on my shelves.
I have only one slight complaint, and it isn't a complaint about the story at all. There is no unabridged audiobook (!!!) so I was only able to read the book when I had time to sit down with my paperback. This bummed me out so much because it took ages for me to finish when I really just wanted to inhale it as fast as I could.
My first book by Edward Rutherfurd, and I'm super excited to read some of the others I have on my shelves.
March 13, 2010
This novel is about a region in southern England known as New Forest and covers a 900 year span of time. The book is a series of short stories about people living in this part of England with the stories taking place at intervals about 200 years apart. The first story takes place in the year 1100 and the last one in 2000. The stories are connected by many common surnames that keep reappearing, the same geographic location and in some cases an amulet that is handed down from generation to generation.
I found the first short story to be of the most historical interest since it portrayed a version of the mysterious death of King William Rufus in the year 1100. In Rutherfurd's version of events, the king's death takes place nowhere near the Rufus Stone, and Walter Tyrrell is framed for it by the powerful Clare family. This fictional account still leaves much mystery surrounding the incident, and hints that perhaps the younger brother Henry (King Henry I) who succeeded to the throne could have been involved.
None of the other stories were of much interest to me. It reminded me why I don't like reading short stories. Each individual story is OK, but by the time the book is finished the stories become co-mingled in my memory. So in general this book didn't connect with me.
I found the first short story to be of the most historical interest since it portrayed a version of the mysterious death of King William Rufus in the year 1100. In Rutherfurd's version of events, the king's death takes place nowhere near the Rufus Stone, and Walter Tyrrell is framed for it by the powerful Clare family. This fictional account still leaves much mystery surrounding the incident, and hints that perhaps the younger brother Henry (King Henry I) who succeeded to the throne could have been involved.
None of the other stories were of much interest to me. It reminded me why I don't like reading short stories. Each individual story is OK, but by the time the book is finished the stories become co-mingled in my memory. So in general this book didn't connect with me.
November 13, 2012
I discovered this gem at my local Half-Price Books. I had just finished The Princes of Ireland, one of his more recent books, and, even though I knew nothing about the area in which he was writing, it was hard not to fall in love with the characters. For once, Rutherford deviates from tales of the British upper crust to the forest folk: farmers, charcoal makers and even monks, and I found this to be far more interesting than the upper-government workings many of his books tend to take. If you're an Anglophile and a history buff, check this one out. You won't be disappointed.
September 25, 2007
History of the New Forest dating from 11th century to present day, told through the memorable people of the Forest: the Prides, Puckles, Cola the huntsman (Albion family), Furzeys, Tottons, the Seagulls. From medieval hunting forest and abbeys through time of the Armada and the civil war and Georgian and Victorian England up till present day. Lots of social, rural and some political history interwoven into the story of generations of these families.
October 7, 2012
Loved it as much as I did "London". Thoroughly engrossing historical fiction. I appreciate the fact that the author provided a map of "the New Forest," in southern England and a genealogy of the six families in the book from 1099 to the 21st century. Great reading! Couldn't put it down some nights until 3:00 a.m. Glad I am retired!
April 6, 2015
the amount of work and research to put together this history puzzle is impressive, like his previous books I've read... the subject didn't attract me as much as London or Ireland and is hard to keep track of who is who down the years... still it is an enjoyable enough tapestry that seems to capture the spirit of a place and how it came to be...
November 27, 2018
Want to know how to turn reading into a chore? Pick up this book! I thought the first hundred pages of Atlas Shrugged were awful, but I was wrong. They were a breeze compared to the entirety of this book. In the first hundred pages, I reached a point where I was flipping pages just to get through reading things written from the perspective of a deer. I’d been told this book was “epic,” but I now realize how much the colloquial meaning of that word has changed.
June 9, 2020
The most evocative book I have read for a long time. As you travel through history via a series of linked stories every character, tree, conflict, love affair, building, ship, settlement and animal comes to life. I learned more about the history of the English monarchy through this book (it wasn’t taught in Scotland in my day) than through any other medium (and the monarchy are not such a big part of the story). Wonderful.
March 6, 2014
The Forest - Rutherfurd
hist fic
br eng> new forest
mad,evil (mediaeval)> Rufus, son of William the Conqueror, to the present day
ebook> nutty nuut> on the road again
spring 2013
tbr busting 2013
epic
3* The Forest
4* The Princes of Ireland
4* The Rebels of Ireland
hist fic
br eng> new forest
mad,evil (mediaeval)> Rufus, son of William the Conqueror, to the present day
ebook> nutty nuut> on the road again
spring 2013
tbr busting 2013
epic
3* The Forest
4* The Princes of Ireland
4* The Rebels of Ireland
March 11, 2019
This is a new author to me and the book was read by one of those that I follow and as the area, covered in the story, is close to my home a copy was found on a used book site. Probably best described as a series of fact based short stories that relate incidents throughout the history of the Nova Foresta since its creation as a hunting area by William the Conqueror until just pior to the making of the National Park that it now is.
Each story has links to the previous one through family relationships and how these have impinged on the life of the forest and the old families that lived there. The families are fictitious but reflect the real life of the area which continues to the present day.
Well written, lots of details about the forest and its wildlife. Very well woven around the historical facts from William Rufus, Adam the Monk, The Armada, Civil War, Inclosures, Killing of the deer and smuggling. Even some that lost their heads! Only drawback for me was the large size and weight of the volume. Worth a read if you are interested in English history.
3stars.
Each story has links to the previous one through family relationships and how these have impinged on the life of the forest and the old families that lived there. The families are fictitious but reflect the real life of the area which continues to the present day.
Well written, lots of details about the forest and its wildlife. Very well woven around the historical facts from William Rufus, Adam the Monk, The Armada, Civil War, Inclosures, Killing of the deer and smuggling. Even some that lost their heads! Only drawback for me was the large size and weight of the volume. Worth a read if you are interested in English history.
3stars.
May 2, 2021
I loved this book so much I didn’t want it to end. Yes, it’s incredibly long. But it never felt ponderous. Each chapter was a brand new story predicated on the past chapter’s characters. Every chapter built from humble beginnings to a heart pounding finish. And the clever humor and irony had me cackling. The author is a true story teller. I cannot wait to visit the New Forest! (Plus I picked up a lot of history in a fun way.)
August 26, 2020
Esta novela abarca 900 años de la historia de Inglaterra, más concretamente, de la Inglaterra del sur. New Forest se sitúa al sur del Sarum y Southampton, cerca del Canal de la Mancha.
Edward Rutherfurd nos cuenta la vida de ocho familias antiguas del New Forest: los Albion, los Pride, los Puckle, los Furzey, los Martell, los Seagull, los Totton y los Grockleton.
Desde los tiempos del rey Guillermo II el Rufo el conquistador, y su asesinato en el Forest hasta el siglo XXI, el autor narra las vidas de estas familias, sus luchas por preservar el bosque y su estilo de vida, por mantener vivas las tradiciones y su historia, su amor por la naturaleza, la flora y la fauna, las luchas de poder y las peleas entre las diferentes familias... Y todo ello entrelazándose con la historia de Inglaterra desde que el Forest era el coto de caza del rey Guillermo II el Rufo, pasando por las luchas en el mar contra españoles y franceses, la división entre católicos y protestantes, la Guerra Civil, Cromwell y hasta nuestros días.
Es extraordinario leer cómo se entrecruzan las historias de estas familias aristocráticas, con las de los grandes terratenientes y las de los pequeños agricultores, haciéndonos ver que la vida es breve y que todos llevamos dentro algo de las personas que nos precedieron en nuestras familias.
Es la primera novela que leo de Edward Rutherfurd pero no será la última.
Edward Rutherfurd nos cuenta la vida de ocho familias antiguas del New Forest: los Albion, los Pride, los Puckle, los Furzey, los Martell, los Seagull, los Totton y los Grockleton.
Desde los tiempos del rey Guillermo II el Rufo el conquistador, y su asesinato en el Forest hasta el siglo XXI, el autor narra las vidas de estas familias, sus luchas por preservar el bosque y su estilo de vida, por mantener vivas las tradiciones y su historia, su amor por la naturaleza, la flora y la fauna, las luchas de poder y las peleas entre las diferentes familias... Y todo ello entrelazándose con la historia de Inglaterra desde que el Forest era el coto de caza del rey Guillermo II el Rufo, pasando por las luchas en el mar contra españoles y franceses, la división entre católicos y protestantes, la Guerra Civil, Cromwell y hasta nuestros días.
Es extraordinario leer cómo se entrecruzan las historias de estas familias aristocráticas, con las de los grandes terratenientes y las de los pequeños agricultores, haciéndonos ver que la vida es breve y que todos llevamos dentro algo de las personas que nos precedieron en nuestras familias.
Es la primera novela que leo de Edward Rutherfurd pero no será la última.
November 9, 2010
The first sentence of this tome is a real stinker. Stopped me in my tracks. Still, I really liked “London” so I ploughed on. No happier by the end of the second paragraph, I flipped to the back to check on the page count. 883. Blimey. Had they let this go to print sans editor? Yet, I really did enjoy “London” so on I plodded.
Got through it all in the end. “The Forest” is a collection of stories, encompassing the 11th century to the dawn of the 21st, involving generations of families - peasant to landed - living in and around the New Forest in southern England. Rutherford weaves a deal of fact into his fiction and for the most part achieves a satisfying symbiosis. His stories can stray into soap opera territory but I’m always persuaded back by the underlying historicity. I loved learning about forest law, for instance, (including the definition of “forest” that was completely new to me) and the “lessons” in forest ecology.
I found the year 2000 chapters that book-end this collection to be the weakest with respect to the fictional content, though I appreciated the need for a “how the forest stands today” update. I could also have done without the self-aware, English speaking deer in the 1099 story. However, as Rutherford repeatedly reminds us, the forest is magical.
Got through it all in the end. “The Forest” is a collection of stories, encompassing the 11th century to the dawn of the 21st, involving generations of families - peasant to landed - living in and around the New Forest in southern England. Rutherford weaves a deal of fact into his fiction and for the most part achieves a satisfying symbiosis. His stories can stray into soap opera territory but I’m always persuaded back by the underlying historicity. I loved learning about forest law, for instance, (including the definition of “forest” that was completely new to me) and the “lessons” in forest ecology.
I found the year 2000 chapters that book-end this collection to be the weakest with respect to the fictional content, though I appreciated the need for a “how the forest stands today” update. I could also have done without the self-aware, English speaking deer in the 1099 story. However, as Rutherford repeatedly reminds us, the forest is magical.
September 15, 2013
...Since reading this novel for the first time back in 2001 I've read several thousand pages of other material by this author. Books like Russka (1991), Dublin: Foundation (2004) and
New York
(2009) impressed my but even after this reread, The Forest is a personal favorite of mine. It's not often you find a book that points out humanity's relationship to the environment and landscape in such vivid detail. This combination of ecology and history gives this novel something extra compared to Rutherfurd's other novels. This is of course my own personal bias. I like books that show a certain awareness of the environment or explore the implications of upsetting an ecological balance. In that sense the novel is a wonderful read. It makes me regret I haven't visited the region myself.
Full Random Comments review
Full Random Comments review
November 14, 2016
For some reason I found this more engrossing and enjoyable than ‘London’ despite the fact it was written in much the same way, using family histories, quarrels and affairs as well as major historical events to portray life in the New Forest from its early days to the modern era. The book is divided up into various sections/periods where we follow the Prides, Furzeys and Puckles, Albions, Tottons and Seagulls as they live and breathe the Forest, its customs and traditions while trying to better their lives and the lives of their families by both legal and illegal means. This isn’t a quick read, both due to its size and due to the style of writing and storytelling as it flows along at a gentle forest pace while the world outside flows past at speed. Added to that you have Rutherfurd’s ability to bring history to life in all its glory from the biggest even to the smallest detail. Together this makes for a perfect piece of historical escapism, just be prepared for a long leisurely read not a frantic race for the finish line.
October 4, 2018
If you've enjoyed this author's other works such as Russka, London, or Sarum, then you should enjoy this book since it's written in the same style, with multiple family lines throughout the eras. I absolutely love historical fiction that spans multiple eras, and this book goes through about 900 years of history (1099-2000) and the author does a great job of weaving events from the world in general within the location of the New Forest and its surroundings (the Spanish Armada, the politics of England and the trials and tribulations of its kings and the Commonwealth, etc)
Another fun historical fiction/family saga from a solid author. Definitely recommended for history nerds.
Another fun historical fiction/family saga from a solid author. Definitely recommended for history nerds.
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