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Rosemary Sutcliff Biography & Facts

Rosemary Sutcliff (14 December 1920 – 23 July 1992) was an English novelist best known for children's books, especially historical fiction and retellings of myths and legends. Although she was primarily a children's author, some of her novels were specifically written for adults. In a 1986 interview she said, "I would claim that my books are for children of all ages, from nine to ninety."For her contribution as a children's writer Sutcliff was a runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1974. Biography Sutcliff was born 14 December 1920 to George Ernest Sutcliff and his wife Nessie Elizabeth, née Lawton, in East Clandon, Surrey. She spent her childhood in Malta and various naval bases where her father, a Royal Navy officer, was stationed. She was affected by Still's disease when she was very young, and used a wheelchair most of her life. Due to her chronic illness, Sutcliff spent most of her time with her mother from whom she learned many of the Celtic and Saxon legends that she would later expand into works of historical fiction. Sutcliff's early schooling was constantly interrupted by moving house and her illness. She did not learn to read until she was nine years of age, and left school at age 14 to enter the Bideford Art School, which she attended for three years, graduating from the General Art Course. Sutcliff then worked as a painter of miniatures. Inspired by the children's historical novels of Geoffrey Trease, her first published book was The Chronicles of Robin Hood in 1950. In 1954, she published what remains her best-known work The Eagle of the Ninth, part of a series on Roman Britain and its aftermath; they were not written as such or in sequential order but connected by the linking device of an emerald ring, passed down through generations of the same family. Between 1954 and 1958, Sutcliff's works The Eagle of the Ninth, its sequel The Silver Branch, Outcast and Warrior Scarlet were runners-up in the annual Carnegie Medal, given by the Library Association to the year's best children's book by a British subject. She finally won the Medal for her third book in the Eagle series, The Lantern Bearers (1959). Where the first two books and one subsequent one were set in Roman Britain, The Lantern Bearers immediately follows the withdrawal of the Roman Empire, when the British people are threatened by remaining Germanic troops and by invaders. Sutcliff was Carnegie runner-up again for her retelling of the Arthurian legend in Tristan and Iseult, which in 1971 won the American Horn Book Award. In 1985, The Mark of the Horse Lord was the inaugural winner of the Phoenix Award, created by the Children's Literature Association to recognise the best English-language children's book that did not win a major award when originally published twenty years earlier. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix, which is reborn from its ashes, to suggest the book's rise from obscurity. The Shining Company won the same award in 2010. Sutcliff lived for many years in Walberton near Arundel, Sussex. In 1975, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to children's literature, and later Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1992. She wrote incessantly throughout her life and was still doing so on the morning of her death in 1992. Sutcliff never married and had no children. Books Autobiography Blue Remembered Hills: A recollection (1983); Sutcliff's memoir of her childhood and young adulthood.Other non-fiction Houses and History (London: Batsford, 1960), illustrated by William Stobbs Rudyard Kipling (1960), a monograph Heroes and History (1965), illus. Charles Keeping A Saxon Settler (People of the Past, 1965), illus. John LawrenceEagle of the Ninth series The series, also referred to as 'Marcus', is linked by the Aquila family dolphin ring and listed here in fictional chronological order. (They were not written as a series by the author.) The Eagle of the Ninth (1954), illus. C. Walter Hodges ‡ The Silver Branch (1957), illus. Charles Keeping ‡ Frontier Wolf (1980) The Lantern Bearers (1959) Sword at Sunset (1963); "officially for adults" Dawn Wind (1961), illus. Charles Keeping Sword Song (1997, posthumous) The Shield Ring (1956), illus. C. Walter Hodges‡ Three Legions (1980), or Eagle of the Ninth Chronicles (2010), is an omnibus edition of the original Eagle of the Ninth trilogy (The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers, 1954 to 1959). Arthurian novels Raymond Thompson credits Sutcliff with "some of the finest contemporary recreations of the Arthurian story" and names these seven works. The first two are also part of the Eagle of the Ninth series (above) that attempt to depict Arthur as an actual historical figure. The Lantern Bearers (1959) Sword at Sunset (1963) Tristan and Iseult (1971); retells the story of Tristan and Iseult The Arthurian Trilogy (inspired by Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur) The Sword and the Circle (1981), illus. Shirley Felts The Light Beyond the Forest (1979), illus. Shirley Felts The Road to Camlann (1981), illus. Shirley Felts The Shining Company (1990); retells the Y Gododdin story (the earliest mention of Arthur's name)King Arthur Stories: Three Books in One (1999), or The King Arthur Trilogy (2007), is an omnibus edition of the Arthurian Trilogy (1979 to 1981). Other children's novels The Chronicles of Robin Hood (Oxford, 1950), illus. C. Walter Hodges—Sutcliff's first published book The Queen Elizabeth Story (1950) illus. C. Walter Hodges The Armourer's House (1951) illus. C. Walter Hodges Brother Dusty-Feet (1952), illus. by C. Walter Hodges Simon (1953), illus. Richard Kennedy, cover art by William Stobbs; set during the 17th-century English Civil War Outcast (1955), illus. Richard Kennedy Warrior Scarlet (1958), illus. Charles Keeping Knight's Fee (1960), illus. Charles Keeping Bridge Builders (1960), illus. Douglas Relf, about the building of Hadrian's Wall. Originally published as a short story in Another Six (Another 6): Stories by Richard Armstrong, William Mayne, Noel Streatfeild, Patricia Lynch, A. Philippa Pearce, Rosemary Sutcliff. UK: Blackwell, 1959. Beowulf: Dragonslayer (1961) illus. Charles Keeping; retells the Beowulf story The Hound of Ulster (1963), illus. Victor Ambrus; retells the story of Cúchulainn The Mark of the Horse Lord (1965), illus. Charles Keeping; The Chief's Daughter (1967), illus. Victor Ambrus; The High Deeds of Finn MacCool (1967), illus. Michael Charleton A Circlet of Oak Leaves (1968), illus. Victor Ambrus The Witch's Brat (1970), illus. Richard Lebenson The Truce of the Games (1971), illus. Victor Ambrus Heather, Oak, and Olive (1972), illus. Victor Ambrus; a collection of three dramatic stories: "The Chief's Daughter", "A Circlet of Oak Leaves", and "A Crown of Wild Olive" (originally published as "The Truce of the Games") The Capricorn Bracelet (1973), illus. Charles Keeping (later, Richard Cuffari); six stories, linked by a R.... Discover the Rosemary Sutcliff popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Rosemary Sutcliff books.

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  • The Barbarian synopsis, comments

    The Barbarian

    Douglas Jackson

    AD 406. Abandoned by friends and hounded by enemies, Roman cavalry commander Marcus Flavius Victor and a small band of loyal warriors know that the time has come to leave an increa...