Category: Influence and Inspiration

Posts at rosemarysutcliff.com about about people — especially authors — who were and are inspired and/or influenced by eminent writer Rosemary Sutcliff

Rosemary Sutcliff’s children’s and historical fiction classic The Eagle of the Ninth on Kindle for 99p!

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

Amazon are selling Rosemary Sutcliff‘s classic historical novel, The Eagle of the Ninth, for the Kindle in the UK for 99p! In the US it is $1.54! This classic of children’s literature is still relevant and readable today, and is a bargain for all you new Kindle owners who can be tempted by historical fiction (or who saw the movie The Eagle earlier this year). On the Amazon site author Ben Kane gave a brief review.

… The Eagle of the Ninth was one of the first historical fiction books I can remember reading as a child, and it instilled in me a great love of all things Roman. When wanting to change career from that of a veterinarian to a writer, Eagle of the Ninth helped inspire me to write Roman fiction. Quite simply, this, in my opinion, is one of the best historical fiction books ever written. Suitable for all ages from 8 or so upwards, it is a stirring read about the pursuit of honour in the face of great danger. Thoroughly recommended.

The Eagle of the Ninth on Kindle for 99p

Andrew Miller’s top 10 historical novels | Books in guardian.co.uk

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

The books listed here share the essential virtues of all good fiction: the renewal of our sense of the world, of ourselves, of language, the extension of ourselves across time and space. And how odd it would be, how dull, if novelists and readers confined themselves, in the name of some dubious notion of relevance, to the events and style of one particular period.”

Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff

As a boy, Rosemary Sutcliff was my favourite author and this, the story of a young Roman centurion caught up in the search for the lost eagle of the Ninth Legion, my favourite of her novels. I had not heard of her or of the novel in many years, but Eagle of the Ninth has just been made into a film. It would be nice to think that a new generation of young readers will discover the pleasures of Sutcliff’s writing. Librarians of the nation (those who are still left) stand by your desks!

via Andrew Miller’s top 10 historical novels | Books | guardian.co.uk.

Lynne Ellison’s favourite book is The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

In April Christopher Posner posted at the ‘You Write’ page (see tab above) that I might like to add to the ‘Rosemary Sutcliff influenced and inspired’ list the English author Lynne Ellison, who wrote the novel The Green Bronze Mirror, about a teenage girl who goes back in time to ancient Rome, at the age of 14. So I do, belatedly! He alerted me that Lynne is still alive and living in Sheffield (UK). Her account of how she came to write this book, as well as an extract from it are available here.

KV Johansen on Rosemary Sutcliff’s influence

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

KV Johansen commented on another version of this site earlier this year, and I have only just caught up (again) with it.

This is a wonderfully thorough site, Anthony. At a time when libraries are weeding all the twentieth century classics because children allegedly won’t (or can’t) read them, it’s important for someone to be pointing out why great books go on being great, the influence they’ve had on readers and writers, and the impact they are still having on young readers. (Mind you, all the weeding makes it easier to find used copies of favourites missing from the personal collection.)

You asked for mentions of other material on Sutcliff. I talked about her a bit in the chapter on retellings of the Arthurian and Robin Hood legends in my book on the history of children’s fantasy literature, Quests and Kingdoms (2005). Managed to sneak in some mention of her Romans, too, via Lantern Bearers and Sword at Sunset. I think Sutcliff is up there just below Tolkien in the “what shaped my deepest imagination and why I’m a writer writing the kinds of things I write” list.

Rosemary Sutcliff novel Sword at Sunset helped engineer recover

Anthony Lawton4 Comments

The Sword at Sunset (US paperback)

Eric Eller described himself as a ‘recovering chemical engineer’. Of Sword at Sunset he wrote:

… Rosemary Sutcliff‘s Sword at Sunset stands out for its raw emotion and storyline stripped down to the essentials … This novel makes other versions, no matter how much fantasy and magic are injected, pallid by comparison. Other authors have recreated a gritty, ‘realistic’ Arthur since Sutcliff introduced the idea more than forty years ago, but this first attempt at that take on the Arthurian legend still stands out as the best.

(A post from four years ago)