Interview here in The Times newspaper with your blog’s author – about Rosemary Sutcliff, the book The Eagle of the Ninth and the film The Eagle.
Tag: young adult fiction
Rosemary Sutcliff’s Warrior Scarlet in critic Julia Eccleshare’s Top Ten Children’s Books
Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff is recommended by Julia Eccleshare, children’s books editor of the Guardian newspaper, as one of her Top Ten Children’s Books in Babyccino Kids, ‘an international lifestyle website for modern mums’:
… true burning Warrior Scarlet … was the very colour of courage itself. No woman might wear the colour, nor might the Half People who came and went at the Tribe’s call. It was for the Men’s side.
Warrior Scarlet, published in 1957, is indeed a wonderful historical novel, illustrated by Charles Keeping. Of the story, Julia Eccleshare writes:
Rosemary Sutcliff had an exceptional ability to bring the past to life; in Warrior Scarlet it is the Bronze Age. Drem needs to kill a wolf to become a man of the tribe. How he first fails and then succeeds in doing so despite his withered arm is a moving story about overcoming adversity.
Julia Eccleshare compiled 1001 Children’s Books: You Must Read Before You Grow Up,
- Julia Eccleshare’s top ten book list in Babyccino Kids here
- More on Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical novel Warrior Scarlet on this blog
Rosemary Sutcliff novels and the North-East of England
Rosemary Sutcliff’s novels and children’s books were highlighted by Alan Myers who compiled an A to Z of the many writers who had a significant connection with the North-East of England. By 2008 (when I first posted this) I thought it had disappeared from the web but no, it is here.
One of the most distinguished children’s writers of our times, (some of ) Rosemary Sutcliff’s … books … (are now) considered classics. She sets several of her best-known works in Roman and Dark Age Britain, giving her the opportunity to write about divided loyalties, a recurring theme. The Capricorn Bracelet comprises six linked short stories spanning the years AD 61 to AD 383, and Hadrian’s Wall features in the narrative.
The Eagle of the Ninth (1954) is perhaps her finest work and exemplifies the psychological dilemmas that Rosemary Sutcliff brought to her novels. Read More »
Rosemary Sutcliff’s Beowulf still enthrals modern readers, young and old | Rosemary Sutcliff Discovery of the Day
Blogger Zornhau reads children’s writer and historical novelist Rosemary Sutcliff’s classic retelling of Beowulf to his son Kurtzhau.
The two of us together live through the dragon fight, the flight of Beowulf’s thanes, all except Wiglaf who tips the balance in his lord’s favor. Now Beowulf lies dying, poisoned by dragon venom.
Kurtzhau and I both hold each other, sharing a blast of emotions from our ancestors’ cold Dark Ages.
Abruptly, Kurtzhau slips off the bed and rummages with his plastic figures.
“Oh well,” I think. “He’s done pretty well for a—”
He bounces back to join me and thrusts a Playmobil barbarian at me. “This guy can be Wiglaf from now on. Now read the end!”
Afterwards, he’s outraged that the story is so short, and we talk about how lucky we are to have the story at all, and about bards and praise singers, and the irony that the two episodes of Beowulf’s life to come down to us are the ones that emphatically did not happen.
“What happened to Wiglaf?”
I shrug. “Was there a theory he lead a Germanic tribe to Britain? Sorry – I can’t remember and we’ve no Internet access here. But if there were any poems about him, they’re lost.”
Kurtzhau considers. “Somebody ought to write a sequel.
Rosemary Sutcliff on writing historical fiction for adults and children | Sutcliff Discovery of the Day
Rosemary Sutcliff once said of her writing:
“The themes of my children’s books are mostly quite adult, and in fact the difference between writing for children and for adults is, to me at any rate, only a quite small gear change.”
Source: Townsend, John Rowe. 1971. A Sense of Story. London: Longman p. 201
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 