THE FOLIO SOCIETY

A thrilling tale of divided loyalties in Roman Britain

‘Rome is failing, my children,’ says the self-styled Emperor Carausias to the young Centurion Flavius and Junior Surgeon Justin. These two friends and cousins are descendants of Marcus Aquila, hero of The Eagle of the Ninth. But this is no longer Roman Britain in its glory days; it is a divided, rebellious nation, ruled over by an increasingly fragmented Empire.

Carausias, charismatic but rebellious, has proclaimed himself ruler in Britain in defiance of Rome. Still, it is clear to most that he is Britain’s best chance to maintain stable rule in the face of barbarian attacks. When the friends uncover a plot to unseat Carausias, their courage and loyalty, both to Rome and to each other, are tested in a desperate adventure that takes them from Rutupiae (Richborough) to Hadrian’s Wall, then south to the Downs for a final battle.

This is a thrilling story, full of unexpected developments, in which the silver branch – a musical instrument belonging to Carausias – becomes a rallying symbol as powerful as the eagle standard was in The Eagle of the Ninth.

Rosemary Sutcliff, of course, wrote her books for children, but there is nothing childish about her gift for subtle characterisation, complex plotting and historical research. Like The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch is based on real events. The Emperor Carausias was the son of a German father and Hibernian mother, who entered the Roman Legion as a foot soldier and worked his way up to become Roman Emperor in Britain. Sutcliff brings this intriguing and complex figure brilliantly to life, along with many other historical characters – including Carausias’s charming finance minister, Allectus, who turns out to have an agenda of his own. Of course, we also meet a fascinating array of native Britons: rebellious Picts, warlike Saxons and, in the undaunted Evicatos of the Spear, who belonged to a Celtic tribe beyond Hadrian’s Wall, another character who really existed.

Rosemary Sutcliff suffered from juvenile arthritis or Still’s disease as a child, and spent most of her life in a wheelchair. For much of her childhood, her main window onto the world came through books, and the myths and legends her mother read to her. Confinement enhanced both her powerful imagination and her appreciation of history as the most thrilling story of all. In her own writing, she wanted to communicate this thrill to her young readers – to make them think of history as ‘a living continuous process of which they themselves are a part.’ The remote past is not so remote to children: nor should it be to us. This is what Kipling understood in Puck of Pook’s Hill, one of Sutcliff ’s favourite books, and as in his work, the heroes of The Silver Branch are as real to us as people living today.

In her excellent introduction to our edition, Julia Eccleshare, children’s fiction editor of the Guardian, points out how Sutcliff loved the underdogs, those who ‘chose the difficult and interesting paths’. Flavius may be brave and a natural leader, yet it is Justin who is the true hero of The Silver Branch – a homely character with a stutter, who has disappointed his family by choosing a medical career rather than being a soldier. It is a hard-hearted reader who will not enjoy the moment when Justin receives a letter from his father that makes him realise ‘he had quite ceased to be a disappointment.’

A new edition with captivating illustrations by Roman Pisarev

Rosemary Sutcliff ’s extraordinary gifts deservingly earned her both the Carnegie Medal and an OBE. We’re not only thrilled to be publishing The Silver Branch, but we’re also delighted to have recruited the marvellous talents of Roman Pisarev for the illustrations. Of all her Roman novels, The Silver Branch is perhaps the most subtle and multi-layered in its depiction of the different cultures of Roman Britain.