I just love the way Edward Rutherfurd writes!

This is a huge book, 1344 pages, of the detailed and intricate history of Sarum - the area now encompassing Wiltshire and mainly focusing on Salisbury, Stonehenge and their surrounds.

You are taken on a journey from thousands of years past up to the mid 1980s, seeing the lives of the Forest, Portier, Mason, Shockley and Godrey families (and all of the derivatives of their names), how they intertwine and how they break apart.

The intrigue, politics, religious fervour, wars, love and loss over the centuries is fascinating and compelling. Rutherfurd takes historic events and sprinkles the lives of these fictitious families across time and it is a pleasure to read.

This is also the area of one line of my ancestors, so reading this history was insightful and educational.

Such a great storyteller.

love his books. Datum was the first book I read of his and it opened a flood gate of amazing stories!

Dreaded having to read this coming into AP English and then ended up loving it. Good historical fiction if you like that kind of thing---tracing a number of families through the major events of history

3.5/5.0 really. A very informative read, a primer of English history from 5000 BC through the late 20th century, with some fictional characters acting as one's docents. I have to say it was somewhat a trudge to get through. I wish I could be more enthusiastic. I am glad that I read Sarum, but I don't think I can honestly recommend it, given its length combined with its mediocre satisfaction.

This one was a bit of a struggle for me. The families and characters didn't pull me in in quite the same way that others of Rutherfurd's books have. While I enjoyed it, and the history lessons that accompany his writings.

Let me start with what I liked about Sarum. I learned a lot from this book. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to the history of England - or the history of any country really - and this book was a good overview of England beginning with prehistoric times. It spans a huge number of years - and I wish I had begun a book of centuries when I started reading it. It would be really cool to begin keeping track of what happened when. I liked that he followed a handful of families throughout the years - beginning with prehistoric people and ending in the 1980s.

But - I didn't love this book. It's essentially a book of short stories - some much shorter than others. The pages are dense with words, and many times the stories felt disjointed. And to be honest, there were times that I was just plain bored. I had to put it down for a month because I was just bored with it and didn't want to keep reading.

Overall, I'm glad I read it. I feel smarter because of it. I'd probably recommend it to other people if they were interested in British history or liked really long sagas. Maybe that means I should give it 4 stars, but I think I'll stick with 3 1/2.