SARUM by Edward Rutherfurd, 1987.

Sprawling, compelling and entertaining saga of the area of England famous for Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. I'd read another couple of Rutherfurd's novels before this one. His books remind me a lot of James A. Michener's in the way they are constructed: he generally takes an area and begins his story with prehistoric times and moves forward, providing episodes of the area's history, usually involving multiple families and characters. In this case, Rutherfurd draws on the splendid history of Salisbury Plain, and intertwines the lives of five families through several thousand years. I found it a dense read, but very involving, and for the most part, quite interesting. I enjoyed learning about how Stonehenge was likely created and the likelihood of human sacrifices being held there; the early burial sites of the tribes (called barrows); about sheep herding and breeding; the rise and development of fulling mills; the effect of the Black Death on the area; how the English Civil War divided area families; the occupations the families took up, like stonemasons, farmers, and fullers, etc. At 900 pages, it's a huge investment of a reader's time, but it honestly is totally worth the effort. The best and worst of humanity shows up in these pages: dishonor, betrayal, murder, acceptance, love, witchcraft, heresy, lust, double-dealing, wars, piracy, religious persecution, social activism, political upheaval, greed, outright manipulation, etc. It was interesting to see the Shockley, Mason, Godfrey, Porteus/Porter and Wilson family fortunes rise and fall, based on cunning, laziness, greed, misperceptions and misinformation, as well as secrets and lies. Some episodes were better than others: I particularly liked the section in which the cathedral was built; the period of Roman rule of the various tribes was informative; the time of the brutal Viking raids on the land was quite thrilling; Bloody Mary's reign saw Abigail Mason and her husband Peter caught up in the terror of heretic burnings; the Civil War era had Margaret Shockley and her brothers divided into Cavalier and Puritan sympathies; the Industrial Revolution brought about huge changes in the fortunes of the Shockleys, and the Wilsons morphed into the Forests and gained a baronetcy. Filled with hundreds of characters, thank goodness the author included a family chart by time period to help keep them straight. Plenty of period details and historical events provide ample background and opportunity for his characters to come to life. An enormously rich and detailed narrative of a massively important area of Britain. Recommended.

THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN by Kate Morton, 2009.

A sprawling story spanning three generations, involving an abandoned child in 1913 Australia, a talented writer of fairy tales, and a granddaughter who discovers a new life for herself on the coast of Cornwall. When a little girl arrives at Brisbane all alone and unable to even say her name, the dockmaster and his wife adopt her, name her Nell and raise her as their own. On her 21st birthday, she's told the truth about her adoption and given a little suitcase with a few clothes and a lovely old book of fairy tales that had been in her possession when she arrived in Australia.The knowledge changes her very life, and she begins a search to find out about her past. Following slender clues, her quest leads her to the Cornish coast in England, to Blackhurst Manor, the Mountrachet family, and a dark web of secrets and lies and false hopes. As she learns more concerning the "Authoress," Eliza Makepeace, who wrote the beautiful fairy tales; the handsome artist Alexander Walker; the maidservant Mary, the overbearing, unkind Adeline and her daughter Rose, Nell realizes that her story is more tangled than she could have realized. She manages to piece together much of her past and comes close to solving the mystery of her identity, but it's left to her granddaughter, Cassandra, to discover the dark secret of the forgotten garden at Cliff Cottage on the estate and at long last put all the pieces together and solve the puzzle. Beautifully written (if a bit overlong), with an involving narrative, rich with interesting and almost Dickensian characters (Mansell and the Swindells most definitely), the reader gets sucked into the mystery almost immediately.The relationship between the cousins--the talented, determined and loyal Eliza Makepeace and the lovely but doomed Rose Mountrachet--is excellently portrayed. This is a book stuffed with characters and events, and if at times the shifting of the time periods was a bit confusing, the story clicks with an almost Gothic atmosphere in the Cornish setting, the characters are well drawn and the storyline intriguing. I found it an entertaining, at times comforting sort of read, much like the old fashioned sagas of Dorothy Eden or Susan Howatch.

Finished on 4/10/09:

THE RIVER WIFE by Jonis Agee, 2007.

An unusual historical novel set in Missouri, along the Mississippi River. Jacques Ducharme, who rescued Annie Lark during the New Madrid earthquake of 1811, married her, and then founded the family, was a fur trapper and river pirate. His influence lasts well into the next century, as Hedie Rails, married to Jacques' descendant, Clement Ducharme, discovers in Annie's family journals. Misunderstandings, family secrets, infidelity, betrayal, horrific violence, paranormal experiences, and seduction play out the drama. Lots of period detail concerning life on the Mississippi, pirating, farming, horse breeding, etc. Worthwhile, if a little on the peculiar side.