Sutcliff’s gift is to recreate an era, in this case the 10th-century voyages of the Northmen and the rise of Byzantium, so convincingly that her readers accept without question the different mores of another time. The violence of the blood feud between two families set off by an accidental killing seems inevitable. No writing down here, no anachronisms, just a glorious sense of history, a sense of knowing how it was. Exciting Reading.
Source, Washington Post
Tag: historical fiction
Simon (1953) | A novel of the English Civil War by Rosemary Sutcliff
Of Simon by Rosemary Sutcliff, written some sixty years ago, the Washington Post and Times Herald in the USA (April 4th, 1954) wrote: ‘it is a colourful story…..(and) Miss Sutcliff‘s interest in character makes even the minor characters interesting … she is adept too at communicating a sense of the Devon countryside”. The story?
All of England was taking sides for the King of Parliament in the 1640’s.Read More »
The Eagle of the Ninth and Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff | Favourite books of Philip Reeve
The Eagle of the Ninth and Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff (are one of my favourite books) … or I could have chosen Knight’s Fee, or The Lantern Bearers, or Sun-horse, Moon-horse, or Frontier Wolf … Rosemary Sutcliff is one of my favourite children’s authors, and I doubt she ever wrote a bad book, but these were the two I liked best when I was growing up.Read More »
Calling Rosemary Sutcliff readers and fans, all readers, and just the curious!
I have been trying to nudge upwards the number of followers of (people who “like”) the Facebook ‘page’ on Rosemary Sutcliff. Progress is slow. However the ‘viral effect’ is moving in the right direction, whatever exactly it is. (I have yet to get my head around that, no doubt simple, metric).
Ben Kane, historical novelist, favourite author Rosemary Sutcliff | Interview in The Independent
Choose a favourite author, and say why you admire her/him
Rosemary Sutcliff. I was probably no older than nine or ten when I read ‘The Eagle of the Ninth’ and it had a huge influence on me; it’s one of the reasons I ended up writing about Rome. I was so struck by her imagery of Hadrian’s Wall and the wilds of Scotland, and the idea of the soldiers disappearing there.
via One Minute With: Ben Kane, historical novelist | The Independent.
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 