Source: Remus – Magazine for the Young Friends of the British Museum
Author: Anthony Lawton
Chair, Sussex Dolphin, family company which looks after the work of eminent children’s & historical fiction author Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-92). Formerly CEO, chair & trustee of various charity, cultural & educational enterprises in UK. Sometimes a consultant.
Rosemary Sutcliff novels and the North-East of England
Rosemary Sutcliff’s novels and children’s books were highlighted by Alan Myers who compiled an A to Z of the many writers who had a significant connection with the North-East of England. By 2008 (when I first posted this) I thought it had disappeared from the web but no, it is here.
One of the most distinguished children’s writers of our times, (some of ) Rosemary Sutcliff’s … books … (are now) considered classics. She sets several of her best-known works in Roman and Dark Age Britain, giving her the opportunity to write about divided loyalties, a recurring theme. The Capricorn Bracelet comprises six linked short stories spanning the years AD 61 to AD 383, and Hadrian’s Wall features in the narrative.
The Eagle of the Ninth (1954) is perhaps her finest work and exemplifies the psychological dilemmas that Rosemary Sutcliff brought to her novels. Read More »
Seattle Times Book Editor loves The Eagle of the Ninth this week | Sutcliff Review of the Week
Mary Ann Gwin wrote on Christmas Day
As a youngster I was enthralled by this novel (The Eagle of the Ninth) by Rosemary Sutcliff, about a young Roman soldier determined to find out what happened to his father, whose legion disappeared without a trace in Northern Britain in the second century A.D. Now “Eagle” has been made into a movie, scheduled for release in 2011 (with Donald Sutherland, Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell). And the first three books in the series, including “Eagle,” “The Lantern Bearers” and “The Silver Branch,” have been reissued by Square Fish for a new generation to discover.
Source: The Arts | What our writers love this week | Seattle Times Newspaper.
Twitter users read and enjoy Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth
Happily Twitter users sometimes (and increasingly) mention reading and enjoying Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth. Most recently, for example, shanaqui (‘I read a lot’) and salariyabookco (an award winning independent book publisher). We are trying to encourage the use of the hashtag #teotn for both the book and the film. Maybe one day – when the film comes out? – it will even ‘trend‘! Meanwhile please spread the word to encourage reading of The Eagle of the Ninth, wherever, and hashtag or not!
The Mystery of the Ninth Legion | 44 Bread Ovens | Rosemary Sutcliff Discovery of the Day
In Digging Up the Past (‘a news and resource centre for Biblical archaeology’) Kendall K. Down posted something written in 2009 about the disappearance of the Ninth Legion, possibly in Scotland, referring to Rosemary Sutcliff’s book The Eagle of the Ninth and the coming film (now called The Eagle and out in 2011). He reviewed the ‘evidence’ to date as he interpreted it. He concluded:
Good reasons can be found for rejecting the tale of a Scottish defeat, but no good reasons can be found for accepting any alternative proposal, so I suppose the best conclusion is the one that earlier historians proposed: the disappearance of the Ninth Legion is a mystery.
That is unless Rosemary Sutcliff’s informed but creative leaps of the imagination in The Eagle of the Ninth satisfy you …
Intriguingly he writes of latter-day research in Scotland:
A new survey of Scotland has found evidence that the story of the Romans north of Hadrian’s Wall is far more complicated than historians have hitherto thought. Ground surveys have previously found 225 Roman military camps from the Borders to Aberdeenshire. (This compares with 150 in England and Wales.) Now a new study using remote sensing technology is set to increase that number, while the Deers Den excavations at Kintore in Aberdeenshire show the extent of the Roman commitment to conquering Scotland: 44 bread ovens have been uncovered!
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 