Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Mark of the Horse Lord, a historical novel with illustrations by Charles Keeping, is loved by many people, including Channing Tatum, star of the film of The Eagle of the Ninth.

He hadn’t understood it, then.  He did not really understand now–his head only knew that when it had to be one or the other, there was not much else you could do but pay away your own life for the Tribe’s.  But something deep within him understood that it was not only among those who had followed the dark, ancient ways of the Earth Mother that the King died for the People; only among the Sun People the King himself chose when the time was come. (From The Mark of the Horse Lord, quoted by The Children’s Book Quote of the Day

• More about Rosemary Sutcliff’s book The Mark of the Horse Lord  on this blog
• More about the film of Rosemary Sutcliff classic children and young adult book The Eagle of the Ninth