For award-winning, internationally-acclaimed author Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-92). By Anthony Lawton: godson, cousin & literary executor. Rosemary Sutcliff wrote historical fiction, children's literature and books, films, TV & radio, including The Eagle of the Ninth, Sword at Sunset, Song for a Dark Queen, The Mark of the Horse Lord, The Silver Branch, The Lantern Bearers, Dawn Wind, Blue Remembered Hills.
Acclaimed fantasy writer Paul Kearney stated in an interview that Rosemary Sutcliff was one of his favourite authors.
Rosemary Sutcliff was one of the favorites of my adolescence. A historical novelist, she wrote the finest treatment of the Arthurian legends I’ve ever read, Sword at Sunset, as well as a whole slew of other novels. When she writes about sub-Roman Britain, you can smell the woodsmoke. She beats people like Cornwell into a cocked hat, and yet has largely disappeared from print. Such are the vagaries of publishing.
When first talking about the impact of his Alzheimer’s disease to The Guardian in March 2008, Terry Pratchett commented that his “fiction – be it for adults or children – isn’t just comic … You can’t laugh all the time. There’s humour in the darkest places. I mean, The Lord of the Rings is a dark book. There’s an Arthurian darkness – we can fight evil, but ultimately we die.” He recalled Rosemary Sutcliff’s book Sword at Sunset, about Arthurian Britain.
Her marvellous idea was that King Arthur and his warriors were effectively the last Romano-Britons fighting against the dark forces. And you’re going to lose, but you have to go on fighting. Something like that you can add humour to. And that’s what I’ve tried to do.
On April 5 in 1987 Patricia O’Conner wrote in The New York Times that: “Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical novel (Sword at Sunset) reinvents King Arthur, and the result, while far from the accepted legend, is ‘an expression of the purest affection for the Arthur of her heart’ ” as Robert Payne had said in The Book Review in 1963. He had written: ”He is a living presence who moves in a brilliantly lit and fantastic landscape only remotely connected with ancient England. And why not?”. Rosemary loved the fact that it went to the top of the UK adult fiction bestseller lists.
See here for a brief summary of this re-telling of the King Arthur legend and all other Rosemary Sutcliff books.
Today, courtesy of a Google Alert, I came across an old discussion thread, ‘Is there a war between Science Fiction and Historical Fiction’ , where a physicist who reads Rosemary Sutcliff recommends several of Rosemary’s books. Although he did spell her name wrong – with an E, a regular moan of this blog, Stephen Harker wrote:
Rosemary Sutcliffe’s (sic) Sword at Sunset and Rider on the White Horse are well worth reading. A lot of her historical fiction was pitched towards children and adolescents. However, I have found them worth re-reading as an adult, for example: The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers which have some connection with Sword at Sunset.
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 