Who is Edward Rutherfurd and why does he write such enormous books?

Edward Rutherfurd books seem to be everywhere - and they are enormous. According to my highly unscientific approach - the average length of his books seems to be between 750 and 900 pages. The reason? Well, he likes to cover a lot, he's all about long, epic novels that cover centuries of time - his book on London tells a tale of the city that spans 2000 years. His book on Paris spans centuries and many families. His latest book, China, starts in 19th century China and is a 70 year family saga. Multi-generational sagas is the term for his books, according to a great Q & A with him on his website. 

The characters maybe fictional in his novels, but the history is real and it's meticulously researched. He wrote his first novel, Sarum, in the mid 1980s and it spans 10,000 years of history set around Stonehenge in England. It took three and a half years to write it and Rutherford himself has said that at the time the thinking in the publishing world was that long books and historical fiction didn't sell. But Sarum did sell and in fact, spent 23 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. 

Rutherfurd's books are a great way to get a view on some history, and enjoy a good, fast-paced story with interesting characters. 

If you want to find out more about Rutherfurd, read the wonderful author interview on his website. I really enjoyed it and his self-deprecating humour.