![]() ![]() The 19th century sees the Forest being exploited by those ultra-consumers the Victorians as deer are killed and evergreen plantations replace the ancient trees, and the Forest’s people must act or lose their wonderful home. Surprisingly, we are then treated to the longest but most delightful tale, Albion Park, showing that Rutherfurd can pen a Regency romance that is like a book in itself. Later we meet the staunchly Catholic Lady Albion who hopes the Armada will be victorious and conquer this country, restoring it to the true faith, and doomed Alice Lisle who lives through the Civil War, Cromwell’s Protectorate and the Monmouth Uprising. We meet the ancestors of all the people in the book but do not witness the actual event, which is a shame. The first point in history is 1099, where the stage is being set for Rufus’ assassination, arguably the most famous event in New Forest history. The book opens in April 2000 as a film is about to be made and the descendant of many of the novel’s characters flies over the forest in a helicopter wondering about the past. Unlike his other books that have been about places where dynamic things happen on a regular basis, the New Forest’s unique brand of magic is that it just is, a far more challenging thing to convey than exciting events. ![]() ![]() In his latest novel he chooses a far quieter venue to show his readers how it has changed over the years – The New Forest. ![]() Edward Rutherfurd has given us the pageantry of Sarum, the teeming life of London and the vast exotic sweep of Russian history in Russka. ![]()
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