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The Forest |
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 The Forest byEdward Rutherfurd Random House (Crown) 598 pages, 2000 ISBN 0609603825 Reviewed by our UK Editor Rachel A. Hyde Edward Rutherfurd has given us the pageantry of Sarum, the teeming life of London and the vast exotic sweep of Russian history in Russka. In his latest novel, he chooses a far quieter venue to show his readers how it has changed over the years - The New Forest. Unlike his other books about places where dynamic things happen on a regular basis, the New Forest’s unique brand of magic is that it just is, far more challenging to convey than exciting events. So this is not an exciting book full of adventures, but a more contemplative work about the glories of nature: how we should remember that they can easily be destroyed but never replaced, and how nature can shape man, as well as the other way around. The book opens in April 2000 as a film is about to be made. The descendent of many of the characters in the novel is flying over the forest in a helicopter wondering about the past, a scene that will be revisited at the end of the book. The first point in history is 1099 where the stage is being set for Rufus’ assassination, which is arguably the most famous event in New Forest history. We meet the ancestors of all the people in the book. The story only mentions the event and we do not actually witness it, which is a shame and took something away from the book. The earlier stories – all a lot longer than the usual more powerful snapshots of moments in history that are Rutherfurd’s hallmark – are rather long with 200 year intervals. The more involving stories occur later in the book. We meet the staunchly Catholic Lady Albion who hopes the Armada will be victorious in conquering England, restoring it to the true faith; doomed Alice Lisle who lives through the Civil War; Cromwell’s Proctectorate and the Monmouth Uprising. The reader is then treated to the longest but most delightful and complete tale of Albion Park, showing that Rutherfurd can pen a Regency romance that is like a book in itself. The 19th Century sees the Forest being exploited by those ultra-consumers, the Victorians - when deer are killed, evergreen plantations replace the ancient trees and the Forest’s people must act or lose their wonderful home. Through the sweep of years we meet the aristocracy, those who make their living from the sea, the commoners who keep their animals in the forest and who are so much a part of the place that they resemble it, being dark, secretive and bonded to the very trees. Families' fortunes rise and fall, they intermarry and find some surprising folk in their family trees, or forget who their ancestors were entirely. Longer than in other Rutherfurd volumes, the stories may lose some of their power in order to give us a window into history. More could have been made of the innately mysterious quality the forest has, and how particularly in earlier times, the old pagan religion lingered. Two books that convey this ambience very well are Pamela Bennett’s Death of the Red King and James Herbert’s The Magic Cottage. The Forest is nonetheless a fascinating and tireless glimpse into one of Britain’s most unique (and one of this reviewer’s favorite) places. |
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