Edward Rutherford is a master of historical fiction and his detail is so great, his stories so riveting, that you can start one of his books shortly after finishing it and enjoy it equally as much, if not more. The Forest tells the story of The New Forest in the heart of England, over a period of about 800 years. From royalty to peasant, all lived out their lives in the shade of the forest, generation after generation.
As always, he skilfully uses family strings to account for human behavior on the microcosmic level and influence on the microcosmic scale. One always has the feeling in reading this book that only the surface of society has changed, its heart is always composed of the same odd assortment of characters. A must read, as are Rutherfords books, Sarum and London.