SARUM

by Edward Rutherfurd ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 1987

A first novel and 10,000-year history of England from Ice Age to present, tracing five fictional families from caveman antecedents to their present incarnations, and set in Sarum (an old name for Salisbury). Hwll the caveman, in search of the better life, leaves his polar icecap with wife and family for warmer climes and ends up in Sarum, where he competes well and flourishes. His descendants become the Porters and Wilsons, while those of his bested rival, Tep, become the Forests. Another line, founded by Nooma the mason (architect of Stonehenge), becomes the Masons, who marry descendants of Aelfwald the Dane (Shockleys), who in turn marry into the final, Godfrey, family (descended from medieval knight Richard de Godefroi). Moving quickly along to King Arthur's court, to the plague years, to the machinations of the Tudors, to the exploration of the New World, to the Revolutionary, First and Second World Wars. . . A little bust carved by Hwll is found by Nooma; the sword used by a Celtic chieftain is inherited by a Roman governor; and implements such as these, rife with portent, hold this vast fabric together as we move on to a modern Shockley (an Aelfwald descendant), in love with a modern Godfrey (a Godefroi descandant), who is robbed by a youthfully prankish Tep-descendant named John Wilson while the city of Salisbury celebrates its glorious past. The writing has an elegant simplicity that moves this bulky narrative along without too much artifice: its pace is somewhat slowed by the constant switches in scene-and-century, but, all in all, a fulsome and entertaining saga.

Pub Date: Sept. 18, 1987

ISBN: 0449000729

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987

Categories: FICTION