diff --git a/examples/forward_simulation.rs b/examples/forward_simulation.rs
index 03574ef3e..20d999269 100644
--- a/examples/forward_simulation.rs
+++ b/examples/forward_simulation.rs
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ use rand::rngs::StdRng;
 use rand::Rng;
 use rand::SeedableRng;
 use rand_distr::{Exp, Uniform};
+use tskit::TableAccess;
+use tskit::TskitTypeAccess;
 
 struct SimParams {
     pub popsize: u32,
@@ -318,7 +320,29 @@ fn births(
     }
 }
 
-fn simplify(alive: &mut [Diploid], tables: &mut tskit::TableCollection) {
+fn rotate_edge_table(mid: usize, tables: &mut tskit::TableCollection) {
+    // NOTE: using unsafe here because we don't have
+    // a rust API yet.
+    let num_edges: usize = tables.edges().num_rows().try_into().unwrap();
+    let parent =
+        unsafe { std::slice::from_raw_parts_mut((*tables.as_mut_ptr()).edges.parent, num_edges) };
+    let child =
+        unsafe { std::slice::from_raw_parts_mut((*tables.as_mut_ptr()).edges.child, num_edges) };
+    let left =
+        unsafe { std::slice::from_raw_parts_mut((*tables.as_mut_ptr()).edges.left, num_edges) };
+    let right =
+        unsafe { std::slice::from_raw_parts_mut((*tables.as_mut_ptr()).edges.right, num_edges) };
+    parent.rotate_left(mid);
+    child.rotate_left(mid);
+    left.rotate_left(mid);
+    right.rotate_left(mid);
+}
+
+fn simplify(
+    bookmark: &tskit::types::Bookmark,
+    alive: &mut [Diploid],
+    tables: &mut tskit::TableCollection,
+) {
     let mut samples = vec![];
     for a in alive.iter() {
         assert!(a.node0 != a.node1);
@@ -326,11 +350,16 @@ fn simplify(alive: &mut [Diploid], tables: &mut tskit::TableCollection) {
         samples.push(a.node1);
     }
 
-    match tables.full_sort(tskit::TableSortOptions::default()) {
+    match tables.sort(bookmark, tskit::TableSortOptions::default()) {
         Ok(_) => (),
         Err(e) => panic!("{}", e),
     }
 
+    if bookmark.offsets.edges > 0 {
+        let mid: usize = bookmark.offsets.edges.try_into().unwrap();
+        rotate_edge_table(mid, tables);
+    }
+
     match tables.simplify(
         &samples,
         tskit::SimplificationOptions::KEEP_INPUT_ROOTS,
@@ -351,6 +380,69 @@ fn simplify(alive: &mut [Diploid], tables: &mut tskit::TableCollection) {
     };
 }
 
+fn update_bookmark(
+    alive: &[Diploid],
+    tables: &mut tskit::TableCollection,
+    bookmark: &mut tskit::types::Bookmark,
+) -> Result<(), tskit::TskitError> {
+    // get min/max time of alive nodes
+    let mut most_recent_birth_time: f64 = f64::MAX;
+    let mut most_ancient_birth_time: f64 = f64::MIN;
+
+    {
+        let nodes = tables.nodes();
+        for a in alive {
+            for node in [a.node0, a.node1] {
+                match nodes.time(node) {
+                    Ok(time) => {
+                        most_recent_birth_time = if time < most_recent_birth_time {
+                            time.into()
+                        } else {
+                            most_recent_birth_time
+                        };
+                        most_ancient_birth_time = if time > most_ancient_birth_time {
+                            time.into()
+                        } else {
+                            most_ancient_birth_time
+                        };
+                    }
+                    Err(e) => return Err(e),
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    // All alive nodes born at same time.
+    if most_ancient_birth_time == most_recent_birth_time {
+        bookmark.offsets.edges = tables.edges().num_rows().into();
+    } else {
+        // We have non-overlapping generations:
+        // * Find the last node born at <= the max time
+        // * Rotate the edge table there
+        // * Set the bookmark to include the rotated nodes
+
+        // NOTE: we dip into unsafe here because we
+        // don't yet have direct API support for these ops.
+
+        let num_nodes: usize = tables.nodes().num_rows().try_into().unwrap();
+        let time = unsafe { std::slice::from_raw_parts((*tables.as_ptr()).nodes.time, num_nodes) };
+        match time
+            .iter()
+            .enumerate()
+            .find(|(_index, time)| **time > most_ancient_birth_time)
+        {
+            Some((index, _time)) => {
+                rotate_edge_table(index, tables);
+                let num_edges: usize = tables.edges().num_rows().try_into().unwrap();
+                bookmark.offsets.edges = (num_edges - index).try_into().unwrap();
+            }
+            None => bookmark.offsets.edges = 0,
+        }
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 fn runsim(params: &SimParams) -> tskit::TableCollection {
     let mut tables = match tskit::TableCollection::new(params.genome_length) {
         Ok(x) => x,
@@ -385,6 +477,7 @@ fn runsim(params: &SimParams) -> tskit::TableCollection {
     let mut parents: Vec<Parents> = vec![];
     let mut simplified: bool = false;
 
+    let mut bookmark = tskit::types::Bookmark::new();
     for step in (0..params.nsteps).rev() {
         parents.clear();
         death_and_parents(&alive, params, &mut parents, &mut rng);
@@ -392,15 +485,16 @@ fn runsim(params: &SimParams) -> tskit::TableCollection {
         let remainder = step % params.simplification_interval;
         match step < params.nsteps && remainder == 0 {
             true => {
-                simplify(&mut alive, &mut tables);
+                simplify(&bookmark, &mut alive, &mut tables);
                 simplified = true;
+                update_bookmark(&alive, &mut tables, &mut bookmark).unwrap();
             }
             false => simplified = false,
         }
     }
 
     if !simplified {
-        simplify(&mut alive, &mut tables);
+        simplify(&bookmark, &mut alive, &mut tables);
     }
 
     tables
@@ -430,7 +524,7 @@ fn test_bad_genome_length() {
 #[test]
 fn test_nonoverlapping_generations() {
     let mut params = SimParams::new();
-    params.nsteps = 100;
+    params.nsteps = 500;
     params.xovers = 1e-3;
     params.validate().unwrap();
     runsim(&params);