The forest : a novel

by Edward Rutherfurd

Paper Book, 2000

Status

Available

Call number

823/.914

Genres

Collection

Gifts

Publication

New York : Crown Publishers, c2000.

Description

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.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member auntieknickers

Similar to his books Sarum The Novel of England and London, this is a sprawling historical novel of a particular area of Great Britain, in this case the New Forest. The fortunes of various families rise and fall and the families connect through nearly a thousand years of English history, and the

reader painlessly learns quite a bit. I had always known of the existence of something called the New Forest, but didn't really have a clear idea of its geography until I read this book. Rutherfurd has James A. Michener listed as an influence, and if you liked Michener's books such as Hawaii, you'll like The Forest Highly recommended, for people who like this sort of book.

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LibraryThing member fiverivers

You pick up a Rutherfurd book not for the story, for the plot or characterization. You pick up and read a Rutherfurd book for the historical overview he painstakingly creates. The Forest is no exception to Rutherfurd's formula for success.
Following the history of the New Forest of England from the

time it was created to the new millennia, the novel coverst the nuances of political, environmental and historical change within the area's confines. Not exactly a spell-binding read, but certainly informative and entertaining.

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LibraryThing member mbmackay

A giant door-stopper of a saga of 900 years of the New Forest. Nice combination of story telling & interesting facts.
Read in Samoa May 2003

LibraryThing member john257hopper

Good, but not great, this is my least favourite of Rutherfurd's books, probably because I have no special interest or connection to the New Forest and less of this book impinges on nationally important events than in the others. However, it still has the author's characteristic style and ranks

above much other historical fiction.

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LibraryThing member kalafish

If you like Rutherfurd's style of historical fiction, this was a well written book about England's New Forest. From the time of King Rufus to present day you learn the history of the Forest through the families that inhabit it. And with Rutherfurd books, you learn a lot about history, nature,

economics, and politics. After Sarum, I would say this is his next best book.

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LibraryThing member dougwood57

In one of his stronger efforts, Edward Rutherfurd sets his historical fiction in the New Forest of southern England. The New Forest in Hampshire, England was originally commandeered in 1079 as a deer hunting area by the king, William the Conqueror.

Rutherfurd tells the history of the area from

William's establishment of the royal forest to modern times through the fortunes of half a dozen families. Special laws, courts, offices and traditions developed over the centuries whereby commoners gained certain limited rights to use of the forest.

Vintage Rutherfurd. Highly recommended.

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LibraryThing member campat53

Another story of an England long forgotten, but full of rich description and great story lines.

LibraryThing member TheoClarke

A millenium of stories from six New Forest families are interwoven to create a glorously detailed picture of life in the Hampshire landscape.

LibraryThing member santhony

This tome is advertised as a companion piece to the earlier Rutherfurd novel, Sarum, and it is just that. Whereas Sarum dealt primarily with the more urbanized area in and around Salisbury, The Forest deals with the adjacent rural area encompassed by the King's Forest.

Very similar in style and

scope to other Rutherfurd works, it is still my opinion that his best work remains Russka. Perhaps due to having read roughly half a dozen of Rutherfurd's novels, I'm beginning to appreciate them less and less. "Familiarity breeds contempt." I've run into some of the same thing in Clancy and Michener (and more keenly with Cirque du Soliel) where I found that their later works were less satisfying than earlier efforts. Perhaps this is more an issue pertaining to the reader than the author.

If The Forest were the first Rutherfurd work I ever read, perhaps it would be my favorite, who knows. In any event, The Forest is an entertaining and reliable read. It is pure Rutherfurd, and if you enjoyed other works by that author, you will not be disappointed, but will not likely be bowled over.

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LibraryThing member mazda502001

This book was just wonderful and I learnt so much about the New Forest and its ways and the lives of the people who lived there. I love this author's books but they are so huge that it seems to take me forever to read them.

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.

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LibraryThing member Mary6508

Mr. Rutherfurd's novels never disappoint me. This is called a companion novel to Sarum, but it is also a stand-alone novel. As always, his characters are rich, his telling of the history of the area is entertaining. I always feel that I want his novels to go on, I guess that's why I keep reading

more of them.

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LibraryThing member Clif

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.

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LibraryThing member BAP1012

I enjoyed the earlier parts of the book but found myself wishing the book was over about 3/4 of the way through.

I learned quite a bit about the "Forest" area of England and would like to visit one day thus the 3 stars. The characters bored me, especially the latter generations.

LibraryThing member Neilsantos

This was good but a lot shorter than his other work, a mere 800 pages, and it covered a smaller portion of history, only about 900 years. Maybe he's running out of things to write about because he's already written about England. Unfortunately there is only one more of his (Russka) that I'm

interested in. I'll probably pass on the "Princes of Ireland"

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LibraryThing member LTFL_JMLS

I love historical fiction! I would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't stopped in the middle and started reading something else. Reading several of Rutherfurd's books has made me want to visit England, especially the Salisbury/New Forest region.

LibraryThing member maryreinert

Wonderful stories that can be read separately but which paint a beautiful picture of life in the various periods of the forest. Rutherford must keep writing as he is getting better with each book.

LibraryThing member MaggieFlo

Mediocre read about the southern coast of Britain near the Isle of of Wight.
Same construction as his other books where the story follows different families through generations . I doubt that I will read any more books by Rutherfurd. If I do and I'm not pulled into the story, I will drop it instead

of pal owing through.

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LibraryThing member Fliss88

Anything this man writes is a must read! The details of his research shine through, and I am always carried away and deeply absorbed with any of his titles.

LibraryThing member Glorybe1

re-reading
[edit]

I really enjoyed this book, Edward Rutherfurds attention to detail in these big tomes is superb.
The story tells not so only of the history of The New Forest, which goes back for over a thousand years,, but also told of families that live in the forest and have been there for

hundreds of years, the Prides, the Furzey's, the Puckles, Seagulls, and Albions, which I found fascinating.
You get a sense of the richness of the characters and the descriptions of the forest itself and the surrounding areas is lovely.
This is a wonderful story about one of our treasures and I loved it

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LibraryThing member AmaliaGavea

''Even the forest grows new oaks.''
When I see a book by Edward Rutherfurd, the effects are the same as when I see a creation by Ken Follett. I believe that most die-hard lovers of Historical Fiction have placed these two writers on a high pedestal. Rutherfurd's books aren't heavy on the romance

element like Follett's and this is a significant plus for me. So, it was with great enthusiasm that I started reading The Forest and I was not disappointed.

But why did Rutherfurd choose to write about the Forest? Well, The New Forest in the county of Hampshire is a place steeped in history and folklore. It is the largest ancient forest in England and therefore, it stands as an everlasting witness to many crucial moments in British History. Prince Richard and William II, the sons of William the Conqueror, died in the Forest and the legend goes that they died as a punishment for their father's faults. A mix of folktales and apocryphas covers the area making it one of the most fascinating and mystical places to visit in England. A version of King Arthur's legend claims that there is a hidden lake said to have been the birthplace of Excalibur and the domain of the Lady of the Lake. On July 31 in 1940, the English witches gathered in the New Forest and raised a powerful cone to stop the advances of Hitler's forces. Many stories of ghosts and weird, unexplained sightings grace the place and the village of Beaulieu is particularly high in the list of strange activity.

It goes without saying that all these elements are present in Rutherfurd's book and dealt with in a unique, beautiful way. The history of the forest is told in nine stories, through the eyes of two opposing families (Rutherfurd's favourite technique) and their course over the ages and the generations. Each story centers around two powerful themes, the struggle for power and the worries over the preservation of the forest. We see that the machinations people use to climb up the ladder of society and the effects of greed over the natural environment are similar through time in an eerie, discomforting way.

For me, the stories that really stand out in The Forest are ''The Hunt'', ''Beaulieu'', ''Alice'' and ''The Albion Park'', although each story is a necessary piece of the beautiful puzzle the writer has created. In ''The Hunt'' , set in the era of William the Conqueror, we meet a wonderful allusion of Man Vs Nature in the form of the agony of a young doe to protect her newly-born fawn during the continuous huntings of the nobles in the sacred forest. Like the beautiful doe, Adela -the heroine of the story- is trying to break free from the patriarchal society, being in the unfortunate position of having a noble name but no dowry.

''Beaulieu'' is set in the era of Edward I, the well-known Longshanks. Here, we see the games the Church uses to gain control of the Forest over the noblemen. At the heart of the story is a beautiful relationship between two people who are separated by the Law of God and the laws of men alike. Brother Adam is an extremely well-written character and I would surely read a novel with him as the central hero.

''Alice'' is derived from a well-documented trial case, during the Restoration era. Rutherfurd focuses on a woman's fight to protect herself and her children from the follies of her husband, in the midst of a mad civil war about Religion and Power. Yes, the story is obviously set in the terrifying years of Cromwell's revolution and its aftermath.

In ''Albion Park'', the longest story in the book set in 1794, he has created characters that are possible to anger you to the high heavens.Mrs Grockleton, a hybrid of Mrs Bennet and Catherine De Bourgh, Adelaide Albion, the unmarried aunt who has remained stuck in the feuds of the past and wants to control everything and everyone, Louise who strongly resembles the empty-headed, gold-digging girls in Jane Austen's books and Fanny, the main heroine, who is very intelligent but so docile and devoted to her family that she needs a rather big shock in order to face reality. I could notice some elements from Austen's Emma in Fanny's character, but without the sharpness of spirit and liveness of character that characterize our favourite matchmaker.

The last part of the book ties the past and the present in a brilliant way. I don't have much to say about Rutherfurd's writing, I am not able to. His descriptions take you right into the heart of the mystical forest, you can feel the wind, see the leaves change, the huts, the running deer, the chirping of the birds. He manages to use the right form of language for every era he depicts, and it is simply astonishing. You'd think that ''Albion Park'' has been written by Jane Austen, his interactions are so faithful, his research shows the traces of a great Historical Fiction writer, equal to Ken Follett and much better than Bernard Cornwell. His books are a source of knowledge and a jewell for every bookcase.

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LibraryThing member jennybeast

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.

LibraryThing member kakadoo202

Excellent historic fiction and great preparation to actually travel in South of England

LibraryThing member gregory_gwen

LibraryThing member JBD1

Rutherfurd's tomes are always worth reading, if rather formulaic at this point.

LibraryThing member nordie

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.

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