I’m used to reading novels that have time shifts so had no issue with this. Each chapter states the year at the start so you know where you are in time.

The oldest period Rutherford covers is 1291 right up to1968.

The story shifts in and out of over 700 years of Paris history. STRUCTURE: Rutherfurd uses a non-linear structure in Paris. Rutherfurd has helped complete my conversion to a fan, however reluctant of historical fiction. Rutherfurd made me fall in love with my favourite city in the world all over again. In two thousand years, Paris has seen it all. Paris bursts to life in the intrigue, corruption and glory of its people. Over hundreds of years, these four families are bound by forbidden loves and marriages of convenience dogged by vengeance and murderous secrets torn apart by the irreconcilable differences of birth and faith, and brought together by the tumultuous history of their city. 2014, USA, Ballantine Books ( ISBN 978-0345530769), paperback, 832 pages.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.'Both Paris, the venerable City of Light, and Rutherfurd, the undisputed master of the multigenerational historical saga, shine in this sumptuous urban epic.' - Booklist Ī columnist for The Telegraph, however, gave it a rather scathing review calling the novel 'swollen', 'encyclopedic', and saying further that 'character and plot are blithely sacrificed on the altar of trivia with every turn of the page.' Publication details But Paris, with its art, architecture, culture and couture, is the undisputed main character.' - Fort Worth Star-Telegram 'This saga is filled with historical detail and a huge cast of characters, fictional and real, spanning generations and centuries. The book follows two timelines throughout, containing a large number of characters and is based on real events. The novel follows six families: the Le Sourds (a revolutionary family), the de Cygnes (a noble family), the Renards (a bourgeois family of merchants), the Blanchards (a family of Napoleon supporters), the Gascons (a family from the slums) and the Jacobs (an art dealing Jewish family). The novel follows six core families set in locales such as Montmartre, Notre Dame and Boulevard Saint-Germain.

Paris is a historical novel by Edward Rutherfurd published in 2013, which charts the history of Paris from 1261 to 1968.

Paris book edward rutherfurd