Even the briefest of entries to Rosemary Sutcliff’s diary demonstrates her love of landscape and nature, so evident in her novels and autobiography, and noted by a contributor to The Scottish Book Trust site.

When I was just getting confident about reading, my mother asked our local librarian to recommend something that would stretch me a bit. The Silver Branch was her choice. It began a lifelong love affair with this wonderful writer. But it did much more than that.  

At a very impressionable age it taught me crucial lessons about loyalty, courage, and remaining true to a set of values as the world collapses around you. It also, like all Rosemary Sutcliff’s work, has a marvellous sense of landscape and the natural world. If there’s been a better novel for young people written in the 50 years since this was published, I’ve yet to read it.

Source: Robert Livingston’s story about The Silver Branch | Scottish Book Trust.

• More about The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff on this blog