Audiobook · read by volunteers
Children of the New Forest
Frederick Marryat (1792–1848)
Read by bryfee (1949-2008), E. Tavano, Gary Gilberd, Kevin McAsh, Jenilee, Sandra, Lucy Burgoyne (1950-2014), Maria Elmvang, John Schell, Kristine Bekere · 27 chapters · 10 h 42
About the book
When the Cavalier Colonel Beverley is killed at the Battle of Naseby, his four children are thought to have died in the flames when their home, Arnwood, is burned by Roundhead soldiers. In truth they have escaped, and they are taken in by Joseph Armitage, a gamekeeper who lives in a cottage deep in the New Forest. Disguised as his grandchildren, they must learn to hunt, cook and farm while they keep their identity secret in a country at war. Frederick Marryat's classic adventure of survival and loyalty is full of forest life, danger and resourcefulness. Twenty-seven chapters, more than ten and a half hours, read by LibriVox volunteers. A story of courage, family loyalty and practical skill, it gives a vivid picture of country life in a time of upheaval.
Introduction
Frederick Marryat (1792 to 1848) was a captain in the Royal Navy before he turned to writing, and his sea stories were among the most popular of the early nineteenth century. Children of the New Forest, his best known book for younger readers, takes the reader from the sea to the English woodland during the Civil War, in the seventeenth century.
The setting is the conflict between King Charles I and Parliament, a struggle that split families and communities. The children of a Royalist officer are left without parents or a home, and they must survive on what the forest and their own wits provide. Marryat shows them learning one practical skill after another: tending animals, growing crops, hunting for food. He does so with the clarity of an author who liked to explain how things were done, and the result is both an adventure and a kind of manual of rural life.
Over twenty-seven chapters the story unfolds at a measured pace, and the recording lasts around ten and a half hours. It was long a favorite of young readers and, for modern listeners, it offers a view of the English Civil War at the level of a woodland cottage. Families will enjoy it together, and anyone who likes stories of resilience and ingenuity will find it satisfying. It is full of practical country lore, from trees and animals to the crafts of the cottage. The narrative is also a reminder of how war divides households and leaves children to find their own way, and it treats this theme with sympathy and a steady sense of hope.
Public domain
Frederick Marryat died in 1848: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text