Miss Sutcliff's first book, a retelling of the Robin Hood legends, and the three which followed, are written for younger children and, while they give pleasure, they do not suggest the range and power of the later books. Signs of this developing potential came with the publication of Simon in 1953, a story with a Civil War setting, whose hero fights for the Parliamentary cause. Teachers welcome this book as a counterweight to the over-romantic view of the war seen from the Royalist camp which is commonly propounded in historical novels; but to the child reading the book, it is very much more than a roman à thèse, it is a story about timeless and enduring problems. Simon, the name character, has to resolve the rival claims of friendship and loyalty to a cause, to grow up and to move from the protection of his family to an adult life with public responsibilities. This blending of historical setting and timeless problems is the mark of all Rosemary Sutcliff's later work, and one of the main reasons for its popularity with children. (p. 138)
In the year after Simon appeared, Eagle of the Ninth was published, and marked the beginning of a sequence of novels which explore many aspects of Roman Britain from the full flush of Roman power until long after the legions had departed, and Rome was only a memory and a hope in the hearts of a few men—a civilisation, a way of life, 'the last brave glimmer of a lantern very far behind'. In each of the novels, the hero has his personal conflict, his particular quest. Aquila, in The Lantern Bearers, has to overcome the bitterness left by the destruction of all he held dear in his youth and to learn the importance of personal relationships and the value of family love. Owain, in Dawn Wind, keeps his ideal of Roman civilisation before him through all his years as a Saxon thrall, and he too discovers the importance of his obligations to his fellowmen. Phaedrus, in The Mark of the Horse Lord, wins his freedom in the arena and, with Roman fortitude, gives his life for the safety of the tribe which had made him their lord. These and other heroes express the adolescent's need to work out a code of behaviour, to discover his public loyalties, and to establish his personal integrity.
