Mr Rutherfurd has several other great historical novels, Sarum (about Salisbury), Russka (Russia), The Princes of Ireland and The Rebels of Ireland.Īll of these books are lengthy, and sometimes hard to put down. Well worth the read, if you haven't been to London, you'll want to after reading the book. 1 Also the Virginia Pilot said of the novel: 'With confidence and skill, Rutherfurd has separated those layers and produced a remarkable story of a great city. The book has a little of everything a novel should possess, intrigue, suspence, love, murder, crime all wrapped up in a ribbon called history. Rutherfurd is adept at showing how all classes throughout history, from slaves to kings, have contributed to London's development'. Pre Roman times through the dark ages, Cromwell, religious rebellions, coats of arms, city guilds and Guild Hall up to post WWII. London starts off with a family watching the Ravens on an island in a river, which would be the famous Ravens of the Tower of London and the river would be the Thames.

The author introduces you to a few families and you follow the families through centuries of history. About the author (1988) Edward Rutherfurd was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and educated at Cambridge University and Stanford University in California. 11,134 Ratings Sarum: The Novel of England - a novel that traces the entire turbulent course of English history.

This was the first Eward Rutherfurd book I read. In Sarum, Edward Rutherfurd weaves a compelling saga of five English families whose fates become intertwined over the course of centuries.While each family has its own distinct characteristics, the successive generations reflect the changing character of Britain. Rutherfurds carefully researched reconstruction from chapter to chapter of minute fiscal changes in his fictional society reveals economic history through often intriguing detail. Sarum: The Novel of England by Edward Rutherfurd 4.15 avg. Educated locally, and at the universities of Cambridge, and Stanford, California, he worked in political research, bookselling and publishing. I am from London so all of the places in the book are known to me, or familiar. Edward Rutherfurd was born in England, in the cathedral city of Salisbury.

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