The Crawdad Hole has a long post on Sword Song – I have not found this to be written about as much by readers. I love the book because I transcribed it from Rosemary Sutcliff‘s hand-written draft manuscript left on her desk when she died suddenly in 1992. Her long-time editor Jill Black finalised it for publication.
Category: Criticism, Reviews, Research, Awards
Posts on rosemarysutcliff.com, Rosemary Sutcliff’s official website, about Literary Criticism, Reviews and Research about her; and about national and international Awards she received.
Literary criticism about the young adult historical fiction of Rosemary Sutcliff
Source: 100 More Popular Young Adult Authors by Bernard A. Drew
- For the The Raymond Thompson interview see here.
Review of Rosemary Sutcliff’s bestselling adult arthurian historical novel Sword at Sunset
From The Bookbanter Blog a 2008 reviewof the Rosemary Sutcliff book, a best-selling historical novel for adults, Sword at Sunset which is about King Arthur. It is one of several books by Rosemary Sutcliff about Arthur.
Sutcliff’s early medieval world is not as ‘dark age’ as normally depicted in fiction, but thriving with trade and societal infrastructure across Europe still seemingly intact. Artos the Bear spends the beginning of the book traveling to southern France where he looks to purchase strong breeds of horses to bring back to Britain to create a strong cavalry force to fight against the invading Anglo Saxons and maintain the British control and rule.
The Hitchcock Blonde reads Rosemary Sutcliff
In the summer of 2007 The Hitchcock Blonde was re-reading her ” favourite childhood authors: Rosemary Sutcliff, Alan Garner, Susan Cooper, Ursula LeGuin. Along with Wolf Brother, they share certain themes: the buildungsroman grail quest, the primacy of animals and nature, the value of a sharply sensed moment in a great sweep of time and place. They are properly epic, humbling and exhilerating.
But above all, these tales are rolled out in a cool, deep river of action. There is so little self-indulgence, because kids are the most exacting, most selfish readers. They have no time for a book written to please anyone but themselves, certainly not an author or a critic. Awkwardness is too familiar and raw a feeling at that age to want to grapple with it in books. Pain, yes, ambiguity, yes, but not wanking about with words.
Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban review of Rosemary Sutcliff’s ‘The Eagle of the Ninth’
On her weblog Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban – who wrote Two Moon Princess – reviews her “favorite books, those books that touched me while I read them and that stayed with me long after they ended … (as) … a small way of paying homage to their authors and … (to) … introduce them to new readers.” Most of the books she reviews are ” are aimed at young adult … (but) … even if your driving license says your teen years are past, don’t be afraid, and dare to read them. Your courage will be rewarded.” Here she writes about Eagle of the Ninth.
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 