Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-92)
rosemarysutcliff.bsky.social
Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-92)
@rosemarysutcliff.bsky.social
For one of the ministrel kind. Brings history to life, life to history. Award-winning author of historical fiction, re-tellings of sagas & legends, children’s literature. #ReadingRosemarySutcliff #RosemarySutcliffsBooksInYearOrder
@rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social . Are you aware that one part of the NHS at least @EMASNHSTrust refuses to accept a ( heartfelt) complimentary comment emailed in after an excellent bit of paramedic help? Ridiculous. I am not filling in a form to compliment paramedic technicians John & Wendy
January 10, 2025 at 11:59 AM
The ‘temptation” Rosemary Sutcliff once said: “is to try & use everything you’ve found out in…research. That can be fatal, because you…only need to use about 1/10. It’s…like an iceberg…It has to be there, because it gives you the freedom of the period. But you don’t use it.”
January 8, 2025 at 12:58 PM
🎄 Dec 23 | #RosemarySutcliffAdventCalendar2024

“Through the centuries, the roots of the oak hold firm.” 🌳📖

Three novellas show how history and myth intertwine across time.

#HeatherOakAndOlive
December 23, 2024 at 5:15 PM
🎄 Dec 22 | #RosemarySutcliffAdventCalendar2024

“Memory is the thread that stitches our past to our present.” 🖋️⛰️

Sutcliff’s autobiography reveals how her childhood illness shaped her as a writer. And she writes of her love of for Rupert.

#BlueRememberedHills
December 22, 2024 at 8:29 PM
🎄 Dec 21 | #RosemarySutcliffAdventCalendar2024

“Healing the body is easier than healing the heart.” 🧙‍♂️❤️

A boy with disabilities finds his place in the world through healing arts in medieval England.

#TheWitchsBrat #ReadingRosemarySutcliff
December 21, 2024 at 11:07 AM
🎄 Dec 20 | #RosemarySutcliffAdventCalendar2024

“A hero’s strength is not in his sword but in his soul.” 🐺⚔️

Cuchulain’s myth told with Rosemary Sutcliff’s skillful realism.

#TheHoundOfUlster
December 20, 2024 at 3:34 PM
🎄 Dec 11 | #RosemarySutcliffAdventCalendar2024

“That is our Shield Ring, our last stronghold; not the barrier fells, but something in the hearts of men.” 🛡️🏔️

Set in Viking-age Cumberland, a tale of resistance and cultural survival against overwhelming odds.

#TheShieldRing
December 11, 2024 at 10:25 AM
Kennings or kenning-like phrases made by the eminent writer of historical fiction Rosemary Sutcliff include:
Sun-burned men—#TheEagleOfTheNinth;
Sword-bearer—#SwordAtSunset;
Shield-wall—#TheShieldRing; Bone-house—#BeowulfDragonSlayer
Wolf’s-head —#TheMarkOfTheHorseLord
December 8, 2024 at 2:35 PM
PS When I was invited to a day of filming of The Eagle of the Ninth (as the Eagle), Channing Tatum, who starred as Marcus, told me that at school in the USA The Mark of the Horse Lord had been one of his favourite books! I’d have thought it a fine candidate for TV or film too?
#DawnWind
December 7, 2024 at 8:42 AM
🎄 Dec 7 | #RosemarySutcliffAdventCalendar2024

“Sometimes survival itself is an act of courage.” 🐕🍂

In the ruins of Roman Britain, in Dawn Wind, a boy and his dog face a changing world. A haunting tale of endurance and resilience.

#DawnWind #ReadingRosemarySutcliff
December 7, 2024 at 8:42 AM
🎄 Dec 6 | #RosemarySutcliffAdventCalendar2024

“A man can only be himself when the mask is torn away.” 🐎👑

Set in Iron Age Scotland, a slave becomes a king—but at what cost? Rosemary Sutcliff explores identity and sacrifice in a fine story.

#TheMarkOfTheHorseLord
December 6, 2024 at 7:53 PM
🎄 Dec 5 | #RosemarySutcliffAdventCalendar2024

“A man belongs where he is loved.” 🌳🏛️

In her historical fiction #kislit Outcast, rejected by both Romans & Britons, Beric searches out where & how to belong in a divided Britain. A story of identity and acceptance.
#Outcast
December 6, 2024 at 7:50 PM
🎄 Dec 4 | #RosemarySutcliffAdventCalendar2024

“There is no death, only a change of worlds.” 🐴⚔️

Rosemary Sutcliff’s best-seller re-imagines Arthur as a Romano-British war leader. A sweeping tale of the fight to preserve civilisation.

#SwordAtSunset #ReadingRosemarySutcliff
December 6, 2024 at 7:49 PM
“I am Cadwan of the Harp. I am the Singer of Songs & the Teller of Tales. There are, there were, many harpers among the Iceni; but I am Harper to the Queen herself; to the Lady Boudicca …”
First line of Rosemary Sutcliff's Song for a Dark Queen- reimagining the story of Boudica
#historicalfiction
December 3, 2024 at 1:06 PM
🎄 Dec 3 | #RosemarySutcliffAdventCalendar2024

“We are the Lantern Bearers, carrying what light we can forward into the darkness.” 🕯️🌌

As Roman Britain falls, one man keeps faith with both his Roman heritage and his British homeland.

#TheLanternBearers
December 3, 2024 at 12:35 PM
Childhood Illness & consequent severe disability shaped writer Rosemary Sutcliff.
Juvenile arthritis (Stills disease) left her physically disabled, often confined to bed. This experience gave her a deep empathy for her characters’ struggles, and a keen understanding of pain and perseverance.
November 28, 2024 at 5:14 PM
‘Enshittification’ denots a process at work in our 2024 world. (cf the other place …) But it’s ugly (tho’ a virtue for the word for an ugly process?).

I’ve been inventing alternatives. Any good? Your ideas?

*muskification
*elonisation
*planned elonescence

www.theguardian.com/science/2024...
November 26, 2024 at 9:54 AM
Rosemary Sutcliff’s 7/55 stories of #kidlit & #histfic was Outcast (1955)—In Roman Britain, Beric, the red-haired only survivor of a Roman shipwreck is raised by Britons, to face the dangers of two worlds

#Outcast
#historicalfiction #ReadingRosemarySutcliff
#RosemarySutcliffsBooksInYearOrder
November 25, 2024 at 3:17 PM
The eminent writer of historical fiction and children’s literature Rosemary Sutcliff re-imagined history of many periods, including Roman Britain, and re-told legends of Ireland,Wales and England.
For #ReadingRosemarySutcliff over 55 separate titles …of which some covers👇…
See RosemarySutcliff.net
November 23, 2024 at 4:45 PM
Rosemary Sutcliff’s 6/55 books of historical fiction & children's literature was her best-selling The Eagle of the Ninth (1954)—In 2nd century Roman Britain, Marcus searches beyond Hadrian's Wall for the lost Eagle of his father's legion.
#TheEagleOfTheNinth
#RosemarySutcliffsBooksInYearOrder
November 23, 2024 at 3:04 PM
Simon (1953) was Rosemary Sutcliff’s 5/55 published works of historical fiction and children’s literature. It is set against the backdrop of the English Civil War and tells of two close friends, Simon and Amias, who find themselves on opposing sides of the conflict.
November 20, 2024 at 2:43 PM
Rosemary Sutcliff’s autobiographical Blue Remembered Hills: A Recollection takes its title from A. E. Housman’s poem A Shropshire Lad— “blue remembered hills” evokes a sense of nostalgia, a longing for the past, and a deep connection to memory and place

#BlueRememberedHills
November 20, 2024 at 2:34 PM
“When anybody asks me where I was born … I admit with a distinct sense of apology that I was born in Surrey … I grew up with the feeling that the West Country is the only right and proper place in which to have one's beginnings.”

#RosemarySutcliffFirstLines
#BlueRememberedHills
November 18, 2024 at 4:48 PM
Rosemary Sutcliff’s autobiography of her early life is named from an A E Housman poem: ‘Blue Remembered Hills: A Recollection”. She starts with her birth in Surrey …

#ReadingRosemarySutcliff
#RosemarySutcliffFirstParagraphs
#BlueRememberedHills
November 18, 2024 at 12:26 PM
The little lost cottage in the woods by Denman's Rife
had been empty & hearth-cold so long that nobody remembered it was there at all. ... (and) at the
hearth end, ragged wings of thatch still clung to the
weather-rotted rafters ...
#FlameColouredTaffeta
#RosemarySutcliffFirstLines
November 16, 2024 at 6:00 PM