'Many of the most memorable characters are women – Adela the Norman, bold in the face of injustice her descendant Alice Albion, almost brave enough to defeat the hatred of the civil war tough old Adelaide, so loyal to ancient grievances that she can't let her sweet niece Fanny take hold of love.' Rutherfurd does the painstaking research the reader has all the fun.' He writes wonderful sagas, tales that cover centuries, always keeping these long stories lively by telling us about the events and conflicts of people's lives. If you like books that are big, Edward Rutherfurd is your man. 'Not all good things come in small packages. 'THE FOREST is Michener told with an English accent' 'As entertaining as Sarum and Rutherfurd's other sweeping novel of British history, London.' While the mighty Forest oaks are used to build ships for Nelson's navy, to protect England's shores against Napoleon, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries see another great battle, this time in Parliament, to protect the Forest's unique environmental heritage.Īnd through this echoing tale, the hidden side of the Forest emerges: the secrets of the huge smuggling business, the mysteries of local witchcraft, and the inner life of trees and animals. The feuds, loyalties, and passions of centuries climax in a scandal that shatters the decorous society of Bath in the days of Jane Austen, whose family lived beside the Forest. Down the centuries, a Pride woman has a love child with a monk at the great local abbey of Beaulieu, the Forest folk prepare to meet the Spanish Armada, and tragedy strikes in the turbulent seventeenth century in a famous miscarriage of justice at evil Judge Jeffreys' Bloody Assizes.

The tale opens with the mysterious killing of William the Conqueror's son Rufus, and the story of a deer.

With their local customs little changed since medieval times, the Forest people - represented in the story by the Albions, the Tottons, the Prides, Puckles and Furzeys - have roots that go back to time immemorial. It has also been known for smuggling, the building of great sailing ships, and witchcraft.

From the time of the Norman Conquest to the present day, the New Forest, which lies just south-east of Sarum on England's southern coast, has remained an almost mystical place, famous for its deer, ancient oaks, thatched cottages and forest ponies. THE FOREST is the natural companion to SARUM.

Sarum rutherford