Edward Rutherfurd Books in Order (author of Sarum, The Dublin Saga, China)

All of Edward Rutherfurd’s Books in Order!

Who is Edward Rutherfurd?

Born Francis Edward Wintle in Salisbury, England in 1948, Edward Rutherfurd is a writer of epic historical novels. In his books, he chronicles the history of a place through the lens of four to six fictional families.

Edward Rutherfurd didn’t become immediately a writer. After graduating, he worked in political research, bookselling, and publishing. He decided to abandon his career in 1983 to work on his first novel, Sarum, an instant international best-seller.

His books have sold more than fifteen million copies and have been translated into twenty languages.

How to read the Edward Rutherfurd Books in Order?

The Dublin Saga

1. Dublin: Foundation (also titled The Princes of Ireland) – The story of the people of Ireland through the focal point of the island’s capital city. The epic begins in pre-Christian Ireland during the reign of the fierce and powerful High Kings at Tara, with the tale of two lovers, the princely Conall and the ravishing Deirdre, whose travails echo the ancient Celtic legend of Cuchulainn.
2. Ireland: Awakening (also titled The Rebels of Ireland) – This sequel takes the story of Ireland from the seventeenth century onwards, picking up at the Reformation, and with it, the devastating arrival of Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell heralds the inauguration of two hundred years of Protestant dominance, throughout which many of the Irish people were impoverished and dispossessed. Dublin is made a Protestant capital, and Catholics become an underclass.

Stand-alone novels

1. Sarum: the Novel of England – This rich tapestry weaves a compelling saga of five families-the Wilsons, the Masons, the family of Porteus, the Shockleys, and the Godfreys-who reflect the changing character of Britain. As their fates and fortunes intertwine over the course of the centuries, their greater destinies offer a fascinating glimpse into the future.
2. Russka: the Novel of Russia – From Russia’s dawn and the cruel Tatar invasions to Ivan the Terrible and the wild Cossacks, from Peter, Catherine and the days of War and Peace to the drama of the Revolution and the extraordinary events of today – here is Russia’s story – history recreated with detail and passion.
3. London – A saga of ever-shifting fortunes, fates, and intrigues of a half-dozen families, from the age of Julius Caesar to the twentieth century. Generation after generation, these families embody the passion, struggle, wealth, and verve of the greatest city in the Old World.
4. The Forest – A sprawling tome that combines fact with fiction and covers 900 years in the history of New Forest, a 100,000-acre woodland in southern England . . .

5. New York – From the empty grandeur of the New World to the skyscrapers of the City that Never Sleeps, from the intimate detail of lives long forgotten to those lived today at breakneck speed, this is the story of New York through a cast of fictional and true characters whose fates interweave in the rise and fall, fall and rise of the city’s fortunes.
6. Paris – Inspired by the haunting, passionate story of the city of lights, this epic novel weaves a gripping tale of four families across the centuries: from the lies that spawn the noble line of de Cygne to the revolutionary Le Sourds who seek their destruction; from the Blanchards whose bourgeois respectability offers scant protection against scandal to the hard-working Gascons and their soaring ambitions.
7. China – China in the nineteenth century: a proud and ancient empire forbidden to foreigners. The West desires Chinese tea above all other things but lacks the silver to buy it. Instead, western adventurers resort to smuggling opium in exchange.The Qing Emperor will not allow his people to sink into addiction. Viceroy Lin is sent to the epicentre of the opium trade, Canton, to stop it. The Opium Wars begin – heralding a period of bloody military defeats, reparations, and one-sided treaties which will become known as the Century of Humiliation. From Hong Kong to Beijing to the Great Wall, from the exotic wonders of the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City, to squalid village huts, the dramatic struggle rages across the Celestial Kingdom. This is the story of the Chinese people, high and low, and the Westerners who came to exploit the riches of their ancient land and culture.

If you like Edward Rutherfurd’s books, you may also want to take a look at our Conn Iggulden reading order, or the work of Ken Follett. Don’t hesitate to follow us on Twitter or Facebook to discover more book series.