Blogger explores Roman settlement Calleva Atrebatum featured in Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth

Anthony Lawton5 Comments

Three years ago Rosemary Sutcliff’s classic historical novel The Eagle of the Ninth inspired one blogger to go exploring!

The Roman History Reading Group’s first read for 2010 is Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth, part of which is set in Calleva Atrebatum. As it’s quite near where my parents live, I set out one cold and frosty morning to have a look at what remains of Calleva Atrebatum today. The remains are near the village of Silchester, not far from Reading.

Calleva Atrebatum means something like “the Atrebates’ town in the woods” (not that different from Silchester!). The Atrebates were a Celtic tribe living in this area, with links to a tribe of the same name living in Gaul. Although the town itself has disappeared, its walls are still standing. It took me about 2 hours to walk the circuit of 2.8 km, but that was with lots of stops for photographs. The shape is roughly speaking a diamond with the top point at the North.

North east wall

Find the whole article and all the photographs on his blog here.

Rosemary Sutcliff’s finest books find liberal-minded members of elites wrestling with uncomfortable epochal changes

Aside Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

So, this is one set of arguments for Rosemary Sutcliff having written at least one of the Best Children’s Books of the Last 100 Years –  an editorial in the Guardian newspaper (2011). And reasons for contemporary relevance. Rosemary Sutcliff‘s 1954 children’s classic The Eagle of the Ninth (still in print more than 50 years on) is the first […]

Rosemary Sutcliff Facebook-likers vigorously criticise Booktrust so-called ‘Best 100 children’s books of last 100 years’ | No Rosemary Sutcliff on it!

Anthony Lawton2 Comments

Over at the Facebook page for Rosemary Sutcliff  readers have been robust about  the error of The Booktrust’s ways in excluding Rosemary Sutcliff from their attempt to list the 100 best children’s books of the last 100 years. I asked for help in compiling a broadside.

I’m not sure this will help, but the books I enjoyed when I was 11 still engage me at 63! I’ve never felt that Rosemary Sutcliff writes for children alone. There’s probably no more poignant tale than The Lantern Bearers. Also, she has a talent for dialogue in an historical context which is unsurpassed. Most children’s authors have nothing remotely like it. (Roy Marshall)

Rosemary Sutcliff’s books last in the mind and heart. I am 63 now and they stand out as Beacons from my childhood. I have reread many in mid and later life and they are even better. I am with Roy, The Lantern Bearers is my favourite – so evocative and of our own end times too. (Rob Patterson)

Rosemary Sutcliff’s Roman books, starting with the Eagle of the Ninth (but I read all the others – The Mark of the Horse Lord was probably the one that really inspired me), were one of the influences that led me to study archaeology.

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No Rosemary Sutcliff not good enough for top 100 children’s book of last 100 years say Booktrust | Outrageous and wrong!

Aside Anthony Lawton1 Comment

So, the Booktrust (“inspiring a love of good books”) uses  “a group of children’s book experts drawn from across Booktrust”  to create their list of the “100 best books for children” of the last 100 years. There is  not one by Rosemary Sutcliff ! I was intrigued to search out the criteria they used. The […]

Frank Cottrell Boyce, Sarah Garland and Howard Curtis nominated for 2014 IBBY International Honour List

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The excellent Books for Keeps site that I follow has alerted me to the fact that The International Board on Books for Young People UK section (IBBY UK) has announced the three British children’s books that it is nominating for the prestigious 2014 IBBY international Honour List. The nominations highlight the lives of today’s young asylum seekers.

Writing: Frank Cottrell Boyce, The Unforgotten Coat, Walker Books, 2011.

Illustration: Sarah Garland, Azzi in Between, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2012.

Translation: Howard Curtis, In The Sea There Are Crocodiles, Random House/David Fickling Books, 2012 (author: Fabio Geda)