Sarum

DNF 253. Being a descendant of England I thought a novel about England from the beginning of history would be awesome. Unfortunately I couldn't get into it. Every chapter is like a short story about a different time period and all of his characters talk the same way. I like books that have characters that you can root for or against but since every chapters involves completely different characters there's no option for that. Obviously you can't have the same character 500 years later so I guess it's my fault for expecting something like that.

Still one of my favourite books ever! Fantastic on a re-read/listen! I do get less interested as we get nearer the present day but thats just my love of history up to the Tudor period! The scope is just mind blowing, to follow an area for thousands of years through history is brilliant! Love how the generations of characters flow and feuds come and go and linger!

Truly a masterpiece! Would recommend to everyone

And yes I am biased because its my home town!

One sentence synopsis... Following the interwoven fates of several families in the English city of Salisbury, from prehistoric times to the 1980's.

Read it if you like... British history, detailed chapters on the history of agricultural innovation and money lending. Not the most exciting of Rutherfurd's books. This one definitely leans more on the step-by-step history of how the people of the region changed the landscape v. the entertainment of the fictional storylines.

Further reading... only two more Rutherfurd books left - Ireland and Hampshire - until I can rank them all.

Long, but amazing read!!