The Shining Company (Random House Modern Classics) - Hardcover

Rosemary Sutcliff

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0099366215 ISBN 13: 9780099366218

Publisher: Red Fox, 1994

Synopsis

In 600 A.D. in northern Britain, Prosper becomes a shield bearer with the Companions, an army made up of three hundred younger sons of minor kings and trained to act as one fighting brotherhood against the invading Saxons.

About this title

About the Author:

Rosemary Sutcliff was born in 1920 in West Clanden, Surrey. With over 40 books to her credit, Rosemary Sutcliff is now universally considered one of the finest writers of historical novels for children. Her first novel, The Queen Elizabeth Story was published in 1950. In 1972 her book Tristan and Iseult was runner-up for the Carnegie Medal. In 1974 she was highly commended for the Hans Christian Andersen Award and in 1978 her book, Song for a Dark Queen was commended for the Other Award. Rosemary lived for a long time in Arundel, Sussex with her dogs and in 1975, she was awarded the OBE for services to Children's Literature. Unfortunately Rosemary passed away in July 1992 and will be much missed by her many fans.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 7 Up-Rosemary Sutcliffe based this novel (FS&G, pap. 1992) on a seventh century poet's account of Lowlander King Mynydogg's dispatch of 300 warriors in defense against Saxon invaders from the south. Prosper, the second son of a local lord and in new and uncomfortable possession of a body servant, meets his future in that Shining Company of warriors when he helps divert hunters from overtaking a white stag, Another who helps to preserve that creature's life is Prince Gorthyn, Mynydogg's son. Gorthyn remembers Prosper as the Company is gathered and sends for him as his second shield bearer; Conn, Prosper's own servant, accompanies him. Both boys find a way for Conn to learn the trade that truly speaks to him blacksmithing and through which he will be able to buy his freedom. Conn's interest in the forge and Prosper's in the life of the warrior were both whetted by a chance sighting of a splendid dagger. This tool, artifact, and symbol is neatly threaded through the tale as it moves from the Shining Company's gathering strength, through bloody battles, to its eventual diminution to a single man, and that warrior's invitation to an older, wiser, and yet eager Prosper to accompany him to Constantinople. Johanna Ward reads this epic quietly, as one might unfold a legend with which listeners have some familiarity. This style will have more appeal to those who are coming to the recording with a sense of the long border wars between the ancients who inhabited the area that is now Edinburgh and the north of Britain, than to those who expect to hear all the sounds of excited battle. The CD cues every three minutes, but those tracks are without regard to chapter breaks.
Francisca Goldsmith. Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Red Fox
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0099366215
• ISBN 13: 9780099366218
• Binding: Hardcover