The Children of the New Forest (Yesterday's Classics)

by Frederick Marryat

Paperback, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

823.7

Genres

Children's Books

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

British History

Publication

Yesterday's Classics (2007), 360 pages

Description

This children's classic, set in the period of civil unrest that shook England to its core in the seventeenth century, follows the travails that befall a group of children after their father, an officer, is slain in battle. When the family home is burned to the ground by enemy soldiers, the children escape to the modest forest cottage of a local gamekeeper and set about the task of putting their lives back together.

User reviews

LibraryThing member notazealot36

Although I didn't particularly enjoy this book, partially because it has undoubtedly failed to age well, and partially because I personally found it often boring reading - with a lot of attention to the slaughter of animals - worth a read indeed, especially for adults.

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LibraryThing member raizel

Written in 1847 about the four children of a Cavalier famiiy in the time of Cromwell who learn to fend for themselves very successfully in a the New Forest. The style is complex and the concepts mature and important: Some supporters of Cromwell, who disapproved of the King's actions, realized too

late that Cromwell was even more dictatorial. When the monarchy is restored, too much time and property transfer has occurred to restore everything peacefully back to the way it was. The characters are perhaps too perfect and the Eden-like quality of living in the forest may be too ideal. But, hey, why not.

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LibraryThing member icchi

There are four children have no parents.
Their mother is dead and their father died while fighting for the King.If they are found by Cromwell's soldiers,they may be killed.
so they escape into the New Forest.
I like this story.
The four ob them help each other to live in the New Forest.
They give me

courage.

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LibraryThing member rohetherington

Classic adventure. I loved it.

LibraryThing member mreed61

There's nothing like a child's book to put you in the midst of history while understanding what children did when faced with adversity. Marryat did a phenomenal job, but then anyone who knows this period of time as well as he did couldn't help but do a phenomenal job.

LibraryThing member starbox

I read most 'Children's Classics' in my youth, but never seemed to get a copy of this one... It's actually (even as an adult reader) a pretty good read, even if, being older and more cynical, we might feel the efforts of the young protagonists are quite astonishingly successful!
It's the story of

the four Beverley children, during the English Civil War. The orphaned offspring of a well-to-do Cavalier, they are being brought up by a sour old aunt in their family home, until the arrival of Roundheads, the burning down of the property and seizure of old Cousin Judith (whom they take to be Charles I in disguise)...
Then follow years of adventure as the four are taken in by a sympathetic forester. Edward, the eldest, soon becomes an adroit deer hunter, while practical brother Humphrey starts a technically impressive farm, and the girls master homecraft. But there's a Roundhead 'Intendant' (with a lovely daughter) supervising the forest; an obliging gypsy who falls into Humphrey's trap; and tantalising news of Charles II returning to re-take the throne...
Pretty good!!

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LibraryThing member mumoftheanimals

Tried to read this as a child as part of my Brownies bookworm badge and failed. Tried in my 60s and still unable to finish it. It always amazes me how often my adult taste marries with my childhood opinion.

LibraryThing member john257hopper

This was one of the first historical novels written specifically for children and published in 1847. Set during the English Civil War, the four children of deceased cavalier Colonel Beverley escape from the burning of their family home and are sheltered in the New Forest by Jacob Armitage. They

take fictional identities as Armitage's supposed grandchildren. Over time, they get used to their lives there farming and herding cattle. The elder son Edward tries to get involved in the attempts to restore the future King Charles II, with mixed success. The depiction of the Civil War is definitely pro-Royalist, and helped to set the literary narrative of dour Roundheads and romantic swashbuckling Cavaliers. Though it isn't totally one-sided, and Intendant Heatherstone is a Roundhead who understands why people rebelled against King Charles I for depriving them of their liberties and promoting the divine right of kings, while being repelled by the King's execution. The final chapter leaps forward a few years to the Restoration and the four Beverleys taking up positions in the new court.

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