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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 period of this famous book for children is set immediately after the final defeat of King Charles I. This king is a fugitive in the New Forest. The children of the title are Edward, Humphrey, Alice and Edith, orphans of a Royalist whose home has been destroyed by Cromwells men. The setting is a humble foresters cottage. With such ingredients the mixture, as can be well imagined, is spiced with danger from roaming Roundheads. Yet the book is packed, also, with the more homely thrill of youngsters learning to hang, to shoot, to cook and to run their new cottage home. Nothing is left out of this typically English adventure book. In the end the reader thrills to the restoration of the daily fortunes.