I started writing a review of this retelling of the sad, beautiful story of Tristan and Iseult. And then the review turned into my own retelling. And then it turned into something that I didn't feel quite up to sharing with the world. And so. If you need the bare outlines of the story, here it is...
To be honest, I had high expectations of this, it being written by Rosemary Sutcliffe, but I was somewhat disappointed. One of my favourite books of all time, since childhood, is her re-telling of Tristan and Iseult. I also loved her take on the Arthurian legend. If anyone can put flesh on the bo...
Sutcliff essentially doing in short story what she has done with some of her books, create a family with some sort of family talisman that is passed from generation to generation, and via the family members who now possess the item, tell the tale of Britain in that time. In this case, the talisma...
Phaedrus is a Roman gladiator who has won his freedom. By chance, he is also the exact double of Midir, the Horse Lord, lost King of the Dalriad tribe. To rid the Dalriads of the usurping Queen Liadhan, Phaedrus agrees to a daring pretence -- he will impersonate Midir and become the Horse Lord.
The Eagle of the Ninth is a story that plods its way through a beautifully detailed setting.Rosemary Sutcliff found her inspiration for The Eagle of the Ninth in two real stories of Roman Britain – one, the legendary (and somewhat historically disputed) disappearance of the Ninth Legion after it ...
This book is relatively short, just 90 pages long. It re-tells the story of Beowulf, a character in the oldest written tale we have, dating back to middle Saxon times. The original story is written in the form of an epic poem of 3182 lines, and was thought to have been first written down in the 8...
SWORD AT SUNSET BY ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF: The late Rosemary Sutcliff was a prolific writer from the 1950s through the 1970s, publishing a number of children's books, including the Eagle of the Ninth series and a series of Arthurian novels, as well as over twenty other children's books on historical s...
This is the story of Drem, a boy of the Bronze Age, who wishes to take his Warrior Scarlet, the kilt that signifies that he is a full, adult member of the Tribe. Alas, he has a withered right arm, so the oddas are against him.Warrior Scarlet is, like most of Rosemary Stucliff's books, beautifull...
WHOEVER HE WAS--WHATEVER HE WAS--SHE WAS ON HIS SIDE!Twelve-year-old Damaris is wise for her years, since she has been raised along the southern English coast where smugglers make frequent runs. She knows not to ask certain questions which will embarrass her father, when she can use her eyes and ...
SHACKLED BY HIS TRAGIC PAST--SHUNNED BY ANCIENT SOCIETYCulture-clash in Roman Britain is presented in an unbiased manner for both Celts (or Picts, judging from the facial tattoes) and Romans in this interesting YA novel. Sutcliff's predilection for ancient times and primitive civilizations result...
It's very noticeable, after reading a few of Rosemary Sutcliff's books in close succession, how her protagonists are never the 'strong' ones. In Song For A Dark Queen, it's narrated by the queen's harper, not one of her warriors or a member of her family or the queen herself. And within the conte...
MAKING A SONG FOR A THOUSAND YEARS!It is 600 AD in Britain, the dawn of the Dark Ages, when the Roman presence was but a memory generations back--an almost wistful time preserved in odd names and stone ruins. Saxon invaders from across the ocean have been steadily encroaching on Celtic Lands--spr...
I wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did -- after all, it isn't about Romans, and clearly I like the ones about Romans best -- but it is, surprisingly, really really good, and I will happily recommend it to anyone who wants a YA book about vikings.It's the tale of Jestyn Englishman, a...
From the day Cadwan fashioned a sword from a willow wand and composed a victory song for his young mistress, Boudicca, he has loyally charted her rise to Queen. Boudicca is the strong and brave leader of the Iceni tribe - courageously guiding her people from one victorious battle to her next. The...
I was rooting around my shelves and discovered one lurking in the layer at the back that I'd totally forgotten - Brother Dusty-Feet, by Rosemary Sutcliffe. I think it must have 'fallen off' my old bookshelves into my suitcase when I was visiting my parents a few years back, and I intended to re-r...
If fairy tales were historically accurate, they would read like Dawn Wind. Once upon a time during the Saxon conquest of Britain, there was a boy named Owain who, along with a war hound, was the sole survivor of the battle of Aquae Sulis. While searching for any remnant of the British host, he di...
One of Sutcliff's "earlier kinds" of stories--a small, quiet story with no action and a lot of sense of place, this book is aimed at younger readers than some of Sutcliff's more popular books. The protagonist, Lovel, is disabled and a healer, which makes him not unusual for a Sutcliff protagonist...
In this spellbinding trilogy, Rosemary Sutcliff recreates all the mystique and mystery of the golden age of Camelot for a new generation. The three stories are: The Sword and the Circle; The Light Beyond the Forest; and The Road to Camlann.
It had never seemed of much importance during their boyhood that Simon Carey was for Parliament and his friend Amias Hannaford a Royalist. But when the Civi War between the two parties broke out, and two years later they were old enough to take part in it, they found themselves fighting for diffe...
If only she'd been born a boy, Tamsyn would never have been sent away to Uncle Gideon's - the armourer's - house when her grandmother died. She could have stayed by the wild sea that she loved with her Uncle Martin, the ship merchant.But instead, she is bound for busy, bustling Tudor London, and ...
Here I am again, reviewing a book written before I was born. This book was another of my finds via 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. [NB: I continue to assume that I am not yet grown up, let alone old, despite evidence suggesting otherwise]. I find that I have read many of ...
by Rosemary Sutcliff Well, Rosemary Sutcliff did it again. In her marvellous way, she spun a beautiful and tragic story out of a fairly obscure historical event. In this case it was the life of John Graham of Claverhouse, also known as Bonnie Dundee. He was Scottish and loyal to James II and ...
This saga of the Irish Celts is re-told by Rosemary Sutcliff with a magical weaving together of passion and poetry. The boy who takes up the spear and shield of Manhood on this day will become the most renowned of all the warriors of Ireland, men will follow at his call to the world's end, and hi...
Thorstein Olafson with yesterday’s messenger beside him and his own sword companions close behind and, behind again, the men of the three longships’ crews, with the pack beasts among them. And beside Bjarni, rather surprisingly, rode Erp, to act as horsemaster and maybe scout. ‘A horsemaster you ...
CARAUSIUS!’ NEWS met them on the march, news brought in by the scouts, by native hunters, by deserters from the usurper’s army; and some of it was not good. The transports of the Eastern Force had failed to make contact with Constantius in the foul weather; and knowing that the young Caesar coul...
Then the soft growling of the old dog, which Marcus had not at first noticed, rose suddenly to a sing-song snarl, and was checked by a backward thrust of the hunter’s heel. ‘Well met, Demetrius of Alexandria.’ There was no time to waste in surprise and explanation. Marcus said quickly, ‘Guern, we...
But to-day was midsummer, the feast of St. John the Baptist, when all the country folk held high festival and Robin decreed a holiday for his men. So, at the far end of the Stane Ley, the cooks were tending a midday meal which was already beginning to send out a savoury smell of broiled venison a...
Terror Comes Again BUT the time when men might sleep safely in the King’s hall was not yet come. Grendel had fled away over the moors with the life streaming from his mortal wound, seeking the dark of his lair like a wild animal that has its death-hurt. But he had not died alone as a wild animal ...
Tom Wildgoose, smuggler or spy or no, was hers. She was happy to share him with Peter, as she shared most things. But it was rather different to have a third person, even Genty, there and not sharing him at all. But she had enough sense to keep all that to herself; and ran the Wise Woman’s errand...
In places the heather had encroached on the old paved road, and the ponies’ hooves fell suddenly soft, their legs brushing through it as through shallow water. High overhead a kestrel hung bivvering against the sky, then dropped on its unseen prey. Otherwise nothing moved but the little knot of h...
He got up, ate a little more of the food, and then, wrapping it up again, set off westward. There were few roads through the forest, but next day he struck one of the native trackways that had been old before the Legions’ roads were thought of; and since it led in roughly the right direction, he ...
Somehow I found I didn’t want to ask that of anyone but herself. So I waited, and for quite a while I was not off duty at the right time again. But at last the waiting was over, and we both chanced together once more at the Well of Sulis; and I carried her pail home for her again; and that time w...