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Sarum

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Sarum

By: Edward Rutherfurd
Narrated by: Roger Davis
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About this listen

The towering story of five families through 100 centuries of turmoil, tyranny, passion and prosperity from Edward Rutherfurd, the author of London, Russka and New York.

In a novel of extraordinary richness the whole sweep of British civilisation unfolds through the story of one place, Salisbury, from beyond recorded time to the present day. The landscape - as old as time itself - shapes the destinies of the five families.

The Wilsons and the Shockleys, locked in a cycle of revenge and rivalry for more than 400 years. The Masons, who pour their inspired love of stone into the creation of Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. The Porters, descended from a young Roman soldier in exile. And the aristocratic Norman Godefrois, who will fall to the very bottom of the social ladder before their fortunes revive.

©2011 Edward Rutherford (P)2019 Audible, Ltd Family Life Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Fiction England Middle Ages
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this book requires commitment but I just loved it. the families are interesting and how the author brings history to life is brilliant. love, love, love it!

Loved it! The historic families are amazing

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I read Sarum a number of years ago but felt I needed to re-acquaint myself with the story as I plan to visit Salisbury soon.

The Audible version is best played at 1.2x otherwise it becomes soporific. And the narrator insists on pronouncing 'grimaced' as grim-ACED rather than the more usual GRIM-ist. As an antipodean am I wrong? Other than that, it is the most wonderful historical fiction. The characters might be fictional but 5000 years of storied England's history comes alive and is told in such a memorable way!

I also read Rutherfurd's 'New York' before visiting New York. Another masterful story!

A masterpiece if you speed it up

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The narrator did a stellar job with accents, although his harsh tone was somewhat distracting. Overall, I learned so much of England's history and the order in which major events happened. The threads of family lineage woven into the story was a great and humanising device.

Historical fiction at its best

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I love historical fiction and this is one of the best I have listened to.

Great story brilliantly read

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Narrator was superb. a sweeping saga of the ages, where the only constant is the town. Thank you Audible and Edward Rutherford.

Wonderful!

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one of the best books of all time. I first read Sarum in the '80s and was mesmerised by the descriptions and beauty that Rutherfurd evoked. Ever since Audible began i have been anxiously awaiting Sarum's arrival as an audio book, and it's here at last !

a Masterpiece

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I'm not particularly interested in English history, and have no connection to Sarum. I tried this audiobook because it's long and gets great reviews. I use audiobooks to get to sleep and as background, so tend to loose the plot. This worked pretty well here. The performance is excellent, but overall calming in tone, and if you tune out sections, you can still pick up the thread. I sense that, had I paid better attention, I would have found and enjoyed unifying themes. Probably worth a second go though to find out. For English history buffs, I imagine it would be fantastic.

if You Know the Place You'll Love It

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Thoroughly enjoyed Sarum the narrator presentation brought the story alive, intermingled with the history of England.

Sarum a book to be enjoyed

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It’s a good quality story, as always. Compared to half a dozen other books I read from this author this one is my least favorite. I found the story a bit slow and characters the least interesting. Narration amazing as always.

Least favorite from this author

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My only thought of a missed opportunity to tie the story together was that the little carved statue didn't make an appearance in the final chapter.. Apart from that, This was a really well done piece of writing.

Fantastic story telling and attention to detail

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