I do not subscribe to book clubs but I hope I can learn here how to bring a
really stupid error to the attention of Edward Rutherfurd or his publishers
or editors.

In the chapter called Niagara, on pages 356-357 of this book he has Lake
Ontario emptying, over Niagara Falls, into Lake Erie!

My wife and I have tried reading this as if it is a typo but the text will
not allow it. It appears to be the author's own words. We have attempted
once to contact the publisher, Randomhouse, Canada, but have received not
even acknowledgment of the email.

We have read every one of his previous books and after reading The Rebels
Of Ireland were moved to go there but now we have to question the accuracy
of all that he has written. Do people in the UK, in Russia, in Ireland
shake their heads at similar howlers in those books?

Darrell (fussyoldfart) McDonald

PS - We have just taken all of our Rutherfurd books and dumped them at a charity book sale.
We don't want them in the house.

fussyoldfart wrote:I do not subscribe to book clubs but I hope I can learn here how to bring a
really stupid error to the attention of Edward Rutherfurd or his publishers
or editors.

In the chapter called Niagara, on pages 356-357 of this book he has Lake
Ontario emptying, over Niagara Falls, into Lake Erie!

My wife and I have tried reading this as if it is a typo but the text will
not allow it. It appears to be the author's own words. We have attempted
once to contact the publisher, Randomhouse, Canada, but have received not
even acknowledgment of the email.

We have read every one of his previous books and after reading The Rebels
Of Ireland were moved to go there but now we have to question the accuracy
of all that he has written. Do people in the UK, in Russia, in Ireland
shake their heads at similar howlers in those books?

Darrell (fussyoldfart) McDonald

PS - We have just taken all of our Rutherfurd books and dumped them at a charity book sale.
We don't want them in the house.

Well, we are all human and can make mistakes. Unfortunately, a factual error in a novel can certainly destroy the mood.

I read Rutherfurd’s book on London, but I must say I wasn’t all that impressed. It was an ambitious work, and creative in a way, but I think it also suffered from what historians sometimes call “presentism”, or the project of present day logic, beliefs, and values onto past societies.

There were numerous short stories, going back to Celtic times, but to me they all read like current day people participating in a costume drama. I had no sense of the radically different societies these various people lived over those many centuries.

Maybe this sort of thing takes more research. Or maybe this is not a priority for many that read historical novels.

Anyway, welcome to BT Darrell, hope you stay around for more discussion beyond Mr. Rutherfurd.

I think you are being too kind to him and his editors and publisher. In the chapter I refer to he was expounding on the Erie Canal so he had to know that Lake Erie is hundreds of feet higher than Lake Ontario. If we allow for the author to mistakenly transpose the names of the two lakes, however, I am astonished that his editors failed to correct the error, nor have I seen it noted by any reviewer. I guess we see what we expect to see but this blunder had me searching everything rather than just reading the story. BTW the editors also missed a "baited breath" in an earlier chapter. My English teacher would have had me standing in the corner for that one.
Darrell McDonald

I think often that Rutherford is over ambitious in the amount of detail he tries to encompass in his work. To the point it becomes crowded with random details and dates and facts that the reader cannot possibly take in alongside the story without treating it in both a history book and a historical fiction. And when there is that much information you tend to step back with a form of disbelief and as pointed out here, rightly so.

Hello Esoldra,
As I said in my original Post it was his books on Ireland that prompted us to go there. Our next trip to Ireland was because we loved the country although we saw only Londonderry in Northern Ireland. Did you find any howlers in The Rebels or The Princes similar to the ridiculous error in New York?

I have not read The Rebels or The Princes as yet (have them on the book shelf to read though). I do live in Northern Ireland so I have been putting off the Ireland books, for exactly that reason, You always find so many errors in books based on where you live. Living in Northern Ireland, I am happy that you love our country though do think you will love it more if you get beyond Londonderry and I hope very much you get that chance (I am not a huge fan of Londonderry in fact I have only visited out of necessity twice)

Yeah, I think we got a very "Dublin-centric" tour. Next time perhaps we should just rent a car and go where we please. Neither of the books had anything good to say about the English, perhaps we should be looking for other authors.

We have quite enjoyed World Without End and Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. Have you read them?

Pillars of Earth and World Without End are two books that keep reappearing on my Amazon recommendations and I have heard so many good reports of them, I do have them now on my wishlist.

We (I keep saying that, the other part of "we" is my wife Yvonne) ... will probably be reading Fall of Giants too as we travel to UK. It will be a good one to pass the time at airports

We watched the adaptation for t.v. of Pillars and did not like it. We thought not enough mortar and too much blood! But then I like my history straight.