Anyone who knows me know that I have a passion for European history and historical novels. I also have a passion for my home town, the good ol’ center of the universe, New York (at least from my perspective. That is why I practically devoured Edward Rutherford’s New York like a tasty slice of apple pie and just finished savoring the over the pond version, London.
While these two books are each labeled as novels, that is not an entirely accurate description. Instead these books are more like the histories of these great cities, made real, with short vignettes of 40 pages or so where characters come out on the stage and then exit just as quickly. This is apt from the imagined perspective of one of these cities themselves. With 2,000 years of history, as in the case of London, a 40-70 year life span of a human is a relative blip on the map, so to speak.
Still, my one regret is that just when you start to know and care for these characters, they disappear into history and are left with the unique perspective of having been there during the events that shaped history, or as much as we modern humans can be in hindsight.
As a consolation, generations of certain families carry through, especially in the case of London, whose main family bless us with unique identifying characteristics, such as a shock of white hair and webbed fingers that make it easy to follow along. Be prepared, though, to keep flipping back to the maps and family histories at the beginning of the book or even to previous chapters to get the most out of the events and character connections.
Unlike many historical novels, the main characters aren’t the most famous people, although as part of history, they do make appearances.
For those of us who grew up in New York, or London, we can recognize some of the real events that took place in those places either through our own experiences or the stories of our parents, grandparents and great grandparents, such as the Great Depression or 9/11.
Because the books flow through these different lives of the characters, they are relatively easy to digest, despite the intimidating size. The books are so big and heavy that they could easily serve, in a pinch, as a self defense weapon (note to anyone unaware enough to interrupt the reading). The books are well worth the heft.