London by Edward Rutherford

This book is quite possibly the longest of any of the ones I have read by Edward Rutherford. Like his other books, the title is the subject of this book. It stretches from the ice ages to almost the present day. Of course there are periods of a hundred or so years skipped here and there, especially in periods where little was known (The Dark Ages). Genetic characteristics passed down through generations are one of the interesting parts of the book. White hair as well as webbed fingers are particularly seen in one family who make an appearance as fairly central characters in different periods of the book. The family even endures a split down the middle and some characters do not know they are related and only guess through these genetic characteristics.

Some obvious critiques of this book are the ones that would be difficult for anyone to avoid - the quickness of passing of some of the historical periods (particularly the ones rife with action such as the 16th and 17th centuries. There are also some that are borne out more with more character development and these were generally the ones I enjoyed more. Rutherford is not a great literary author - he doesn't have the gifts that many authors do, but he is amazing at developing characters and providing historically accurate information in an interesting setting, made more interesting by the fiction he adds in himself.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it.