Now that he could sit up, he could look out into the courtyard, and see the rosebush in its wine-jar, just outside his window. There was still one crimson rose among the dark leaves, but even as he watched, a petal fell from it like a great slow drop of blood. Soon the rest would follow. He had held his first and only command for just as long as the rosebush had been in flower…It was certainly pot-bound, he thought; maybe his successor would do something about it.
~p. 35 The Eagle by Rosemary Sutcliff
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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
What a surprise, I didn’t expect to land on a page with the beautiful, literary prose of Rosemary Sutcliff. This section – a significant detail – of importance only to the MC – is one of the writing tips suggested by Donald Maass.
I fell in love with Sutcliff’s Warrior Scarlet and stayed hooked until I’d read all of her work.
I will definitely be checking out her other works as well!
Wonderful description in this teaser.
Sutcliff writes my favorite prose, and her characters are among my best friends. You’ve chosen an excellent quote here. It shows how thoughtful her protagonists are. She always wrote about fighting men, but they are never brutes. She was always sensitive to their inner thoughts, loves, and worries. A friend of mine said she connected with Marcus in The Eagle of the Ninth when she realized that his sadness at being discharged from the legions was the same empty sadness she felt at graduating from a college where she had lived with all her friends for four years and was comfortable in a world she loved, but could not remain in. That’s the power of Sutcliff’s writing — the emotions of her characters are real, specific emotions, just like her landscapes are real, specific places. She mixes the real and the dramatic with grace and texture.
I enjoyed The Eagle, but was sad at how drastically it altered the book’s plot. What did you think of it? (If you’ve read it yet)
Typo correction: if you’ve seen the movie yet. +)
The writing is very beautiful and I have been taking my time reading it. I have seen the movie and have noticed quite a few differences. I am sad that so much was taken out or even changed. I think they (the movie people) really wanted to show Marcus’ growth and journey from not wanting anything to do with Esca (why they changed Marcus buying him as opposed to his uncle buying him ‘for’ him in the movie) to hating him to beginning to understand the world from Esca’s POV to really having to depend and trust him. I really enjoyed the movie, especially the beautiful scenery of the Highlands, but am definitely liking the book more!
Thanks for commenting David!
Wow that teaser is something. I’m way more interested in the book and movie now. Thanks for stopping by my teaser.
Interesting teaser! I haven’t heard of this before so thanks for sharing and thanks for visiting My WOW
I’m sort of ashamed to admit I had no idea The Eagle was a novel first. I’ll definitely have to check that out! Thank you for stopping by.