Rosemary Sutcliff was a children’s writer and historical novelist who believed in re-incarnation. She told me , as she did other people, that she once found herself telling someone who suggested that perhaps Roman soldiering would be her fate in a future life that “she had already had enough of soldiering”. She believed in it for animals too, including her own. Hence her book A Little Dog Like You (1987), in which a woman whose beloved small dog has died finds him again when he is reborn in the body of a new puppy.
Welsh Versions of The Hound of Ulster and The Chief’s Daughter
Author G R Grove, who has written Storyteller, Flight of the Hawk, and The Ash Spear, has alerted me to two welsh editions of Rosemary’s books. Cwchwlin Penarwr Iwerddon is The Hound of Ulster. Merch y Pennaeth is The Chief’s Daughter.
The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup was historical novelist Rosemary Sutcliff’s first picture book
I recall Rosemary Sutcliff, perched at her desk, reading out loud to my enraptured young son drafts of The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup, which was her first picture book, with illustrations by Emma Chichester-Clark. In the UK , the eminent critic Naomi Lewis often reviewed Rosemary Sutcliff’s books. She praised The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup as ‘inspired’ and ‘distinguished’. An American critic said it was a ‘fast-paced fairy tale of loss and joyful reunion’ which was ‘beautifully illustrated’. Naomi Lewis wrote:
A young minstrel adopts a lost infant dragon; they become perfect friends. It’s an elegant little creature when full grown, something like a whippet dog with wings and a long curved tail. But when it is stolen, the minstrel starts on a quest to find it. Not only boy and dragon but the whole byegone landscape comes to life in the inspired pictures of this distinguished book.
In the US, Julia Wotipka wrote:
Youngsters with a fondness for dragons will enjoy this beautifully illustrated fantasy. The story is longer than a typical picture book, but a magical winner. One spring, a young, wandering minstrel finds an odd-looking creature hatching from an egg on the beach. The minstrel plays a simple little tune ‘for waking up to’, and a happy little baby dragon emerges. The minstrel names it Lucky, and the two become good friends, traveling from town to town enjoying good music and plenty to eat. When a scheming traveling showman kidnaps Lucky to use in his show, the minstrel is heartbroken. Sutcliff, a masterful storyteller, has created a fast-paced fairy tale of loss and joyful reunion.
Emma Chichester Clark, the illustrator of The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup, studied at the Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College. She was taught by Quentin Blake. Her first book, Listen to This, won the 1988 Mother Goose Award for best newcomer to children’s book illustration. Since then, and including for her work with Rosemary Sutcliff, Emma has since become internationally known. She has illustrated books by Roald Dahl, Peter Dickinson, Kevin Crossley-Holland and Michael Morpurgo. Her own books include the Blue Kangaroo series. In 2008 she published a version of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel.
Sources: Observer July 4th 1993 (p62); The Oregonian June 3rd 1993 (pE04).
Terry Pratchett admires Rosemary Sutcliff and her Arthurian novel Sword at Sunset
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.
Rosemary Sutcliff in Top 20 living British authors | The Times in 1980s
Trawling the internet, I am reminded that in 1981 British publishers announced their choices for the top 20 (then) living British writers. Rosemary Sutcliff was among them. At the time, Frank Delaney, chairman of the selectors, said:
In a storehouse so rich, there are far more than 20 good , even great, writers. What we have tried to do is select authors whose record of publication has provided them with critical acclaim and public recognition.
She ‘beat’ such distinguished people who were not in the top 20 as Robert Graves (the poet and novelist), J.B. Priestley (who had a 60-year literary career), Alan Sillitoe, Kingsley Amis, Muriel Spark, Dick Francis and Daphne du Maurier. Lord Snowdon took a picture which for copyright reasons I am sure I should not post, although I have it somewhere.
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 