This
is an extremely rich body of work. I hesitate to say 'novel' since there
are eight parts to this book of equal stature. Is it then a collection of
novellas? Well, no not quite, since all of these stories have a tendency
to refer to each other. For instance, there is the little wooden cross
which is handed down the generations of families whose paths we follow.
Of no great monetary value in itself, this ornament, whose origin is more or
less forgotten, still signifies a great deal to whoever happens to be wearing
it at the time. The author concentrates his attention of a handful of
fictional families, from the Albions of the gentry, to the rather more coarse
tribe of Seagulls. The one great thing which binds all these
families is the New Forest. The author takes great pains to also bring
the forest alive, from the mighty oak, to the fallow deer. Anyone who's
in love with English history will find much richness here. What the
author has done is to realise a great empathy for the English peoples of
the last thousand years, and even beyond, if you include the Prehistory of the
Saxon Prides. The prose is light and easy to follow. The author has
a few old storyteller tricks here: such as employing loose ends. A
character will do something in one story which will resound greatly in
another. Those who dislike such loose fragments left unresolved
will be relieved to find that this author is extremely tidy. However, I
did spot a few typos, but these hardly spoil the impact of such great
tales. This author is also very aware of the literary conventions
concerning the historical periods of which he writes. You groan
when the section set in Beaulieu Abbey starts off with the murder of a monk,
and suspect that Cadfael is not far behind with his herbal remedies.
However, the author is very clever here, for he plays delightfully with your
expectations - he does not provide mere homage to the past - he always brings
something new and unique to such fictions. The tale of 'Albion Park' is
very much Jane Austen, and as the author admits, he derived this story from
something which really happened to Austen's aunt at Bath. The heroine,
like that of 'Mansfield Park', is called Fanny. During the latter parts
of the book, we also get a delicious portrait of a Victorian Pre-Raphaelite
artist, who is inspired by the forest of his ancestors. But all is not
sweetness and light: perhaps the grimmest chapter features the plight of
Alice Lisle, caught within Judge Jeffries' notorious Assizes. There are
accounts of famous rebels, such as Penruddock and Monmouth: the author really
does bring the history alive. He reveals how place names and surnames
change over time, due to historical events.
However, there was one family that I was particularly interested in concerning
this novel, but whom I found to be only obliquely mentioned: the
Rutherfurds. I first became intrigued because of the peculiar spelling -
trying to search for this author's surname in online bookshop search boxes
provides a variety of spellings, so much so that it's highly tempting to
believe that the internet will have impact on this ancient name. Rutherfurd
begins his novel by going back just under a thousand years to the murder of
King William 'Rufus' (so-named because he had red hair). 'Ruther' is also
derived from the Celtic word for 'red'. One of the stories concerning the
origins of the Rutherfurd name is that it relates to a ford. The
Rutherfords first seem to appear around this era as inhabitants of the Scottish
borders. There is an account of them beating back an invading English
force across a ford before the time of William Wallace, and it's romantic
to believe that the name could derive from this incident. Is it just a
coincidence that Walter Tyrell has a ford named after him in the New
Forest (as Rutherfurd writes in the opening novella), due to his flight after
the death of Rufus?
Rutherford also briefly mentions Wallace, and the Scottish Rutherfords
certainly fought for him and Robert the Bruce against the English.
Rutherfurd writes of the protestant dissenters: Samuel Rutherfurd may
have been one such historical ancestor. There is also a strong
branch of Rutherfurds in America, possibly related to the Pilgrim Fathers or
others like them. Certainly the American heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt had
a distant relation to the Rutherfurds, and may even have been in love with
Winthrop Rutherfurd before she married the Duke of Marlborough, whose Blenheim
Palace is mentioned in the novel (along with, I think I recall, a cheeky
comment about the Marlboroughs marrying into the best families). Sir
Walter Scott was related to a branch of Rutherfurds, one of whom is mentioned
in his 'The Bride of Lammermoor' However, all this might be baloney or
coincidence, except for one thing: Edward Rutherfurd keeps
mentioning the Royal Navy ship, the Swiftsure, which was at the battle of Trafalgar
as part of Nelson's forces: it's captain? - Why, none other than William Gordon
Rutherfurd! I therefore think that the author has derived a great deal
from a rich family history, as his characters do also.
AuthorTrek
Rating: 10/10
Kevin
Patrick Mahoney
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