Francis Edward Wintle (born 1948), known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Edward Rutherfurd, is an English novelist. He is best known as a writer of epic historical novels that span long periods of history but are set in particular places. His

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

, '' Sarum'', set the pattern for his work with a ten-thousand-year storyline.

Biography

Rutherfurd attended the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and Stanford Business School, where he earned a Sloan fellowship. After graduating he worked in political research, bookselling and publishing. He abandoned his career in the book trade in 1983 and returned to his childhood home to write '' Sarum'', a historical novel with a ten-thousand year story, set in the area around the ancient monument of

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...

and

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

. ''Sarum'' was published in 1987 and became an instant international best-seller, remaining for 23 weeks on the

New York Times Bestseller List ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

. Since then he produced seven more New York Times best-sellers: '' Russka'', a novel of Russia; ''

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

''; '' The Forest'', set in England's

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

which lies close by Sarum; two novels, '' Dublin: Foundation'' (''The Princes of Ireland'') and '' Ireland: Awakening'' (''The Rebels of Ireland''), which cover the story of Ireland from the time just before Saint Patrick to the twentieth century; '' New York''; ''

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

;'' and ''China.'' His books have sold more than fifteen million copies and been translated into twenty languages. Rutherfurd settled near

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland in the early 1990s, but currently divides his time between Europe and North America. ''New York: The Novel'', won the Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction in 2009 and was awarded the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence, by the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York, in 2011. In 2015 Edward Rutherfurd was the recipient of the City of

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

's International Historical Novel Honor Award "for his body of work in the field of the historical novel."

Style

Rutherfurd invents four to six fictional families and tells the stories of their descendants. Using this framework, he chronicles the history of a place, often from the beginning of civilisation to modern times – a kind of historical fiction inspired by the work of James Michener. Rutherfurd's novels are generally at least 500 pages in length and sometimes more than 1,000. Divided into a number of parts, each chapter represents a different era in the place where the novel is set. There is usually an extensive family tree in the introduction, with each generational line matching the corresponding chapters.

Works

*'' Sarum'' (1987) latterly titled ''Sarum: the Novel of England'' *'' Russka'' (1991) sometimes titled ''Russka: the Novel of Russia'' *''

'' (1997) *'' The Forest'' (2000) *'' Dublin: Foundation'' (2004) titled ''The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga'' in North America *'' Ireland: Awakening'' (2006) titled ''The Rebels of Ireland: The Dublin Saga'' in North America *'' New York'' (September 2009) *''

'' (April 2013) sometimes titled ''Paris: A Novel'' *''

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

'' (May 2021)

References

External links

* , interview, ''ContraCostaTimes.com'' 9 May 2004
Edward Rutherfurd's Official site

Edward Rutherfurd's Official Facebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutherfurd, Edward 1948 births 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English novelists 21st-century British male writers 21st-century English novelists English male novelists Living people People from Salisbury Writers of historical fiction set in antiquity Writers of historical fiction set in the modern age Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages