Sunday, October 21, 2007

Rosemary Sutcliff

Born December 14, 1920 in Surrey, England
Died July 23, 1992

Rosemary Sutcliff was an English writer of historical fiction, primarily for children, and the author of some sixty books. As Neil Philip describes her work, Sutcliff "does not bring 'history' to the reader but involves the reader in the past - not just for the duration of a book, but for ever."

Beyond her wonderful capabilities as a writer, Sutcliff is admirable as a person who overcame terrible circumstances to find her own talents and create new things for others to enjoy.

Sutcliff, born an only child into a naval family, moved frequently as her father's career as a naval officer dictated. They resided for a period in Malta, but most of her youth was spent in England. Tragically, Sutcliff developed Still's Disease and was wheel-chair bound with rheumatoid arthritis for much of her life.

Due to her illness, she was unable to attend school for much of her early life. While confined at home, her mother loved reading to her so much that Sutcliff herself did not learn to read until she was nine. Later she was to attend Bideford Art School where she studied miniature painting, with the general plan being that she would be able to support herself despite being an invalid. It is arresting to consider a time not so long ago when a middle-class family, with an invalided maiden daughter, would have to consider this type of planning for her.

Fortunately for the rest of us, Sutcliff soon came to realize that she did not really want to be a painter and turned instead to writing. In reading her books, it is easy to see in them some residual impact of those early days as a miniaturist as she has an eye for striking detail and is noted for her descriptions of terrain and countryside. This eye for detail is an especially critical attribute for a writer of historical fiction as it is in the details or shining light on what is unexpectedly different that helps carry the reader to the past and convince him that he is in a different time and place.

In an earlier essay on Lois Lenski, another writer of historical fiction, we noted Lenski's habit of going to live in a locale that was the setting of her story, sometimes for many months, in order to pick up the vernacular and the detail of the environment. Given Sutcliff's physical incapacities and inability to follow a similar pattern of preparation, her descriptive powers become even more notable.

Even if she was unable to live or easily visit the settings of her books, Sutcliff did invest a great deal of effort in researching the details of her books - not just the broad outlines of the history, but the everyday activities of farming, eating, soldiering, and speech. In fact, one of the fine balances that she strikes is in the area of speech. It took her two or three books to strike the right note, but she incorporates just enough of the rhythm and style of speech from an era to remind you of the difference in speech patterns without their becoming an impediment to the flow of the story. Instead they become a pinch of verbal seasoning as it were.

The other thing that is striking about her books is their capacity to be read at a couple of different levels. I suspect I was ten or eleven when I first read a Sutcliff book, The Eagle of the Ninth. At that age I read it simply as an action packed tale set in a distant Roman Britain. And I enjoyed it tremendously. I read others of her books over time as I was able to get my hands on them. By fourteen or fifteen, I went back and re-read The Eagle of the Ninth. On this second reading, and with a somewhat more developed emotional maturity, I was able to read a much different story, one not just about action and adventure.

Most of Sutcliff's books are structured in a way that the protagonist has to either carve some path between two opposing loyalties and/or has to strike some reconciliation of values of the past with the needs of the present and future. Basically they are all about those aspects of change that are so characteristic of a child's middle years and I think that is one reason that they remain so popular. They are not simplistic reads at all and they are not a story wrapped over a loom of social concern. They are not patronizing - a child can and will read them for the entertainment that they are and will only later realize that they read and learned much more than they were aware of.

Sutcliff is, as mentioned above, primarily noted as an author of children's historical fiction, though that rather desiccated term doesn't really do justice to her style or the impact the books can have on a child. Among the historical eras with which she dealt, she is probably best known for her Roman Britain trilogy (The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, and The Lantern Bearers), and for her Arthurian knights trilogy (The Light Beyond the Forest, The Sword and the Circle, and The Road to Camlaan). I think two books of hers published after her passing, Black Ships Before Troy and The Wanderings of Odysseus, should belong among those top-rated books as well. They are a rather different style of writing for her, but they capture much of the essence of the original stories. And, most critically, they are not dumbed down. They are written for a middle or advanced independent reader, but as an illustrated book can serve as a fine story to read to children much younger, say five to ten.

Rosemary Sutcliff was commissioned to write Black Ships Before Troy and The Wanderings of Odysseus by the famous British publisher Frances Lincoln as part of a project to retell the three classics of the ancient Greco-Roman world: the Odyssey, the Iliad, and the Aeneid. Sutcliff was able to complete only the first two before her passing. The trilogy was subsequently completed by Penelope Lively who also writes children's history. Her version of the Aeneid is titled In Search of a Homeland.

So for anyone interested in gripping, action oriented, historical fiction which also has deeper layers of development and change, Sutcliff would be your writer. For independent readers, start with The Eagle of the Ninth, and if you find you enjoy it, move on to her other works. I would strongly recommend both Black Ships Before Troy and The Wanderings of Odysseus to parents seeking to introduce their children at a young age to the library of Greek literature. I would start with The Wanderings of Odysseus.

Independent Reader








Black Ships before Troy: The Story of the Iliad by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Alan Lee 1993 Highly Recommended








Outcast by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Richard Kennedy 1955 Suggested








Sword Song by Rosemary Sutcliff 1998








The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1954 Recommended








The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1959 Suggested








The Light beyond the Forest: The Quest for the Holy Grail by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1979








The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1965








The Road to Camlann: The Death of King Arthur by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1981








The Shield Ring by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1956








The Shining Company by Rosemary Sutcliff 1990








The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1957 Suggested








The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1981








The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Alan Lee 1996 Highly Recommended








Tristan and Iseult by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1971








Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1958


Rosemary Sutcliff's Complete Bibliography

The Chronicles of Robin Hood by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1950
The Queen Elizabeth Story by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1950
The Armourer's House by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1951
Brother Dusty-Feet by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1952
Simon by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Richard Kennedy 1953
Black Ships before Troy: The Story of the Iliad by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Alan Lee 1993
Outcast by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Richard Kennedy 1955
Lady in Waiting (novel) by Rosemary Sutcliff 1956
Sword Song by Rosemary Sutcliff 1998
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1954
The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1959
The Rider of the White Horse (novel) by Rosemary Sutcliff 1959
The Light beyond the Forest: The Quest for the Holy Grail by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1979
The Bridge-Builders by Rosemary Sutcliff 1959
Rudyard Kipling by Rosemary Sutcliff 1960
Knight's Fee by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1960
Houses and History by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by William Stobbs 1960
Beowulf: Dragonslayer by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1961
Dawn Wind by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1961
Dragon Slayer by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1961
Sword at Sunset (novel) by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by John Vernon Lord 1963
The Hound of Ulster by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1963
Heroes and History by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1965
A Saxon Settler by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by John Lawrence 1965
The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1965
The High Deeds of Finn MacCool by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Michael Charlton 1967
The Chief's Daughter by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1967
A Circlet of Oak Leaves by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1968
The Flowers of Adonis (novel) by Rosemary Sutcliff 1969
The Witch's Brat by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Richard Lebenson 1970
The Road to Camlann: The Death of King Arthur by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1981
The Truce of the Games by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1971
Heather, Oak and Olive: Three Stories (containsThe Chief's Daughter by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1972
The Capricorn Bracelet (based on BBC scripts for a series on Roman Scotland) by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Richard Cuffari 1973
The Changeling by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1974
(With Margaret Lyford-Pike) We Lived in Drumfyvie by Rosemary Sutcliff 1975
Blood Feud by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1976
Shifting Sands by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Laszlo Acs 1977
Sun Horse by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1977
(Editor with Monica Dickens) Is Anyone There? by Rosemary Sutcliff 1978
Song for a Dark Queen by Rosemary Sutcliff 1978
The Shield Ring by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by C. Walter Hodges 1956
Three Legions: A Trilogy (contains The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, and The Lantern Bearers) by Rosemary Sutcliff 1980
Frontier Wolf by Rosemary Sutcliff 1980
The Shining Company by Rosemary Sutcliff 1990
The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1957
Eagle's Egg by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1981
Bonnie Dundee by Rosemary Sutcliff 1983
Blue Remembered Hills: A Recollection (autobiography) by Rosemary Sutcliff 1983
Flame-Coloured Taffeta by Rosemary Sutcliff 1985
The Roundabout Horse by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Alan Marks 1986
Mary Bedell (play) by Rosemary Sutcliff 1986
Blood and Sand by Rosemary Sutcliff 1987
The Best of Rosemary Sutcliff by Rosemary Sutcliff 1987
Little Hound Found by Rosemary Sutcliff 1989
A Little Dog Like You by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Jane Johnson 1990
The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Shirley Felts 1981
Chess-Dream in a Garden by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Ralph Thompson 1993
The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Emma Chichester 1993
The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Alan Lee 1996
Tristan and Iseult by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Victor Ambrus 1971
Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Charles Keeping 1958


ADDENDUM: March 13, 2008 - The estimable British literary magazine, Slightly Foxed has published a pocket edition of Sutcliff's Blue Remembered Hills. Should you wish a copy, please contact them directly at the link.


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