Rosemary Sutcliff was an internationally renowned writer of historical novels, for children, young adults and adults. She also wrote stories for children. This category compiles the posts on this blog by title.
James Beagon, currently an undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburgh, created this adaptation. (Thank you JB for the production and for link to this video). He was interviewed about the adaptation—by Sandra Garside-Neville— for The Historical Novel Society .
When Rosemary Sutcliff’s Arthurian historical novel Sword at Sunset was first published in hardback by Hodder & Stoughton in 1963 it cost 21 shillings (£1.05). Using a simple purchasing power calculation—multiplying £1.05 by the percentage increase in the retail prices index (RPI) from 1963 to 2012—this equates to £18.62 in 2012. In 2012 a hardback version was reprinted by Atlantic Books, with recommended retail price of £16.99. So, in one sense, a new hardback edition of Sword at Sunset ‘cost less’ this time round!
The stories of Finn Mac Cool belong…not to Epic, but to Folklore and Fairytale; and only here and there … something of the Hero Tale remains.
… The stories of the Fianna are full of loose ends and contradictions, and unexplained wisps of strangeness that seem to have drifted in for no especial reason except that they are curious or beautiful and happened to be floating by.
They are stories made simply for the delight of story-making, and I have retold them in the same spirit – even adding a flicker or a flourish of my own from time to time – as everyone who has retold them in the past thousand years or so has done before me.
Source: Author’s Note to The High Deeds of Finn MacCool
Over at Twitter I am tracking down people who can say #Ireadsutcliff , and their favourite(s). Merrian Weymouth in Australia favours —possibly— Dawn Wind, which was recently reprinted. The Historical Novel Society had this to say of it:
First published in 1961, this reprint keeps its original charm by reproducing the black and white illustrations by Charles Keeping. Dawn Wind represents historical fiction at its best. It was written by an author who delighted readers with her detailed and atmospheric stories. It is equally suitable for both young adult and adult readers. A thoroughly enjoyable book.
The novel starts:
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 