At my husband's urging, I chose LONDON by Edward Rutherford. I wanted something big and juicy that I could savor throughout my week-long vacation. Last summer, I was searching for the perfect book to take with me to the beach. You can't read London without a scorecard-but that's part of the fun. Just as one begins to warm to the characters, they are hurried off the stage. Rutherfurd is a good storyteller and each vignette makes for a good story however, he has given himself the inevitable task of beginning what amounts to a new book every 40 pages or so. Ultimately, though, the structure of the novel determines the lion's share of its success. The author doesn't skimp on historical detail, and that's a signal pleasure of the book. London is ambitious, and students of English history will eat it up.

The author places his vignettes at the most dramatic moments of that city's history, leaping from Caesar's invasion to the Norman Conquest to the Great Fire to (of course) the Blitz, with many stops in between. His novel, London, stretches two millennia all the way from Roman times to the present. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title.Įdward Rutherfurd belongs to the James Michener school: he writes big, sprawling history-by- the-pound. A sprawling epic.” - San Francisco Chronicle “Hold-your-breath suspense, buccaneering adventure, and passionate tales of love and war.” - The Times (London)

Each episode is a punchy tale made up of bite-size chunks ending in tiny cliffhangers.” -The New York Times We overhear Geoffrey Chaucer deciding to write The Canterbury Tales. We witness first-hand the lust of Henry VIII. What a delightful way to get the feel of London and of English history. and the coming of the Industrial Revolution. The invasion by Julius Caesar’s legions in 54 B.C. Generation after generation, these families embody the passion, struggle, wealth, and verve of the greatest city in the Old World.

He brings this vibrant city's long and noble history alive through his saga of ever-shifting fortunes, fates, and intrigues of a half-dozen families, from the age of Julius Caesar to the twentieth century.

Breathtaking.”-The Orlando SentinelĪ master of epic historical fiction, Edward Rutherford gives us a sweeping novel of London, a glorious pageant spanning two thousand years. London tracks the history of the English capital from the days of the Celts until the present time. .

London the novel by edward rutherfurd