Rosemary Sutcliff

RS , historical novelist, overcame disability to publish, over a span of forty years from 1950, more than fifty titles. Most are books for the young (billed for those of eleven and upwards, but having the style and tone to appeal both to older adolescents and to adults). RS inhabits periods from classical Greece to the eighteenth century, but is best known for her renderings of the time when Britain was a province of the Roman Empire and the immediate aftermath of that time. Her protagonists are usually boys or young men who are in some way disadvantaged and must struggle to win the respect of themselves and their society. Her other books include novels for adults, retelling of traditional myths and legends (generally those centred on heroes), a memoir of her early years, and a biography of Kipling (an important influence on her work).