The Children of the New Forest Novel

Description

The Children of the New Forest is a children’s novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat. It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth. The story follows the fortunes of the four Beverley children who are orphaned during the war, and hide from their Roundhead oppressors in the shelter of the New Forest where they learn to live off the land. The story is centered on the four Beverley children who learn to survive on their own in the forest, and is particularly focused on the maturing of Edward Beverley as the rather rash, eldest teenager. It celebrates the ideals of chivalry and bravery, tempered by modesty. The four children in the novel eventually become ideal models of manhood and womanhood, and even the gypsy boy Pablo is tamed into their civilizing ways. The appearance of Pablo in the novel reflects the fact that Romani people were a common sight in the New Forest in the 19th century, and the association of gypsies with the New Forest was familiar in the Victorian imagination.