Divided into a number of parts, each chapter represents a different era in the area of the novel's history.

Rutherfurd's novels are generally at least 500 pages and sometimes even over 1,000. Using this framework, he weaves them in and out of historical situations, having them interact not only with each other, but also with significant historical figures.

Known as a James Michener disciple, Rutherfurd invents four to six fictional families and tells the stories of their descendants. Rutherfurd’s novels chronicle the history of settlements through their development up to modern day, mixing fictional characters and families with real people and events-a kind of historical fiction pioneered by James Michener.

Rutherfurd settled near Dublin, Ireland in the early 1990s, but currently divides his time between Europe and North America. His books have been translated into twenty languages. Since then he has written five more bestsellers: Russka, a novel of Russia London The Forest, set in England's New Forest which lies close by Sarum, and two novels, Dublin: Foundation ( The Princes of Ireland) and Ireland: Awakening ( The Rebels of Ireland), which cover the story of Ireland from the time just before Saint Patrick to the twentieth century. Four years later, when the book was published, it became an instant international bestseller, remaining 23 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List. After numerous attempts to write books and plays, he finally abandoned his career in the book trade in 1983, and returned to his childhood home to write Sarum, a historical novel with a ten-thousand year story, set in the area around the ancient monument of Stonehenge and Salisbury. His debut novel Sarum set the pattern for his work with a ten-thousand year storyline.Įducated locally and at the universities of Cambridge and Stanford, he worked in political research, bookselling and publishing. Education-Cambridge University and Stanford University.Įdward Rutherfurd is primarily known as a writer of epic historical novels.Spanning 1800 years of Russia's history, people, politics, and culture, this grand saga is as multifaceted as the country itself, as it chronicles the lives of four families who are divided by ethnicity but united in shaping the destiny of their land. The author of the phenomenally successful Sarum: The Novel of England now turns his remarkably vast talents to an even larger canvas.

Sarum rutherford