In The Forest, Edward Rutherford unfolds the saga of nine turbulent centuries in the life of the quintessential English heartland: the New Forest. The New Forest lies in a vast bowl scooped from England's southern coast. From the time of the Norman Conquest to the present day, the New Forest has remained a mysterious, powerful, almost mythical place. It is here that Saxon and Norman kings rode forth with their hunting parties, and where William the Conqueror's son Rufus was mysteriously killed. The New Forest is the perfect backdrop for the families who people this epic story, a story that makes clear the connections between the dark, dangerous, sensuous life of the primeval forest and the genteel life of Georgia and Regency society.