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Tag Archives: Rosemary Sutcliff

Ink and Paper Jacobites

11 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by la Clarina in Books, History, Stories

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

History, Jacobite Risings, novels, R. L. Stevenson, Rosemary Sutcliff, Scotland, Susanna Kearsley, Walter Scott

Obviously Scotland does this to me: it sends me on Jacobite tangents. Fictional tangents, mostly – because really, the moment you try a history book, the whole adventure loses much of its shine. Then again, seven decades of intermittent and unsuccessful attempts at restoring a royal line with the dubious aid of a foreign power were bound to be, on the one hand not terribly well organised, and on the other, perfect novel material… I mean: how can you have plenty of exiles headed by a handsome and charming prince, loyal clans, recurring bursts of violence, conspirations, secret messages, toasts to the King Across the Water, songs, divided families, spirited ladies, battles, and an ultimately doomed cause – and not expect an abundance of fiction? And of course, the foremost charm of the Jacobites is that of the doomed and defeated. Would we care very much about them, would we write novels, if they’d won? Continue reading →

August Readings

17 Thursday Aug 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Books

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Arthur Conan Doyle, Rafael Sabatini, Reading, Rosemary Sutcliff, summer

You know how I’m forever bemoaning the Reading Weeks I never get?

Well, this year, thanks to a longer rehearsals break, I’ve decided that things can take care of themselves for a few days while I read a little for fun and pleasure… Continue reading →

Singing Smugglers

18 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by la Clarina in History, Stories

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Daphne Du Maurier, Georgette Heyer, Peter Bellamy, Rosemary Sutcliff, Rudyard Kipling, Russell Thorndyke, Smuggling

Smugglers at RyeCome to think of it, there’s a good deal of fiction set in XVIIIth and Early XIXth Century England that deals with smuggling… Daphne Du Maurier‘s Jamaica Inn, Georgette Heyer‘s The Unknown Ajax and The Talisman Ring, Rosemary Sutcliff‘s Flame Coloured Taffeta, and Russell Thorndyke’s Doctor Syn novels come to mind – but there are many more stories of the Free Traders, or Gentlemen, as they were commonly called, sneaking into England such goods as French liquor, silk and lace under the noses of the excisemen… Continue reading →

Book-lag

08 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Books, Scribbling

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Peter S. Beagle, Rosemary Sutcliff, Thomas Dallam

ddI know one thing I want when it comes to my writing.

Well, of course I want many things – one does. But these past days, as I took my two-day reading holyday (which happily and unexpectedly blossomed and became three days instead), I realized this particular thing: I want to write something that leaves the reader book-lagged.

You know what I mean: when you finish a book, and start the next one – and feel out of place, because you miss the one you just finished. As though you had traveled from one place to another, and couldn’t quite fit in the new place.

Finishing Sutcliff’s Simon, and missing the Civil War as I followed Thomas Dallam in his voyages. And then finding my sea-legs, and settling down – which is a bad choice of image for what is essentially a book of travels – and then missing Dallam very much as I went on to read Beagle’s Tamsin, all the more so because Jenny Gluckstein’s tale begins in modern-day New York. And then realising that all that modern-day New York, and the skilful foreshadowing was drawing me in so very well, and loving the whole thing so much that, for the third time in as many days, I’m book-lagged again.

And yes – this is what I want to do. To make up a world so vivid that the reader can feel it, and people so engaging, and stories so engrossing that the reader will miss them, afterwards. And have trouble adjusting to the world, people and stories of the next book. Or play – of course.

I’m off to write a good deal this year. I have plays in mind, and both monologues and short stories have developed a habit of just cropping up, and demanding to be written, and this is the year I go back to novel-writing, as well. A good deal of writing, yes. And while I’m at it, perhaps book-lag/play-lag is not a bad thing to strive for.

Saint Lucia

13 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by la Clarina in Books, History, Stories

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

historical novels, Rosemary Sutcliff, Rudyard Kipling, Saint Lucia

santaluciaThe Baby Jesus – yes, and Santa Claus – yes, but in my corner of the world, the gift-bringer, the one children write to, and wait for is the old (or young) lady with the donkey: Saint Lucia.

I’m well past childhood but, being the youngest – and indeed, the only young-ish – member of my family, I still get Saint Lucia. In the morning of the thirteenth, I wake up to find my little coloured parcels, and a sinful plate of candy…

This year, together with an elephant-shaped mug and a lovely glass ornament for the Christmas tree, Saint Lucia has left for me two historicals by Rosemary Sutcliff who, in spite of being a children’s author, is a writer right up my alley – or so I’m told. Sutcliff

That she writes tales from British history and was inspired by Kipling’s works seems very promising. From the hastiest perusal of her extensive bibliography, Kipling’s influence is clear. Just have a look at title and synopses: they have Puck of Pook’s Hill written all over…

I also like what Sally Hawkins writes here about Sutcliff’s novels, and how they sparked off her love of history, and her lack of condescension towards younger readers… As I said, it’s all very promising. Then again, Saint Lucia is seldom wrong. So, no matter how the show goes tonight, I can anticipate coming home to a pleasant few hours of reading one of my new Sutcliffs.

Thank you, Saint Lucia.

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