In this candid, stirring autobiography, first published in 1983, the renowned author of Mark of the Horse Lord, Eagle of the Ninth, and, most recently, The Shining Company, tells the story of her childhood in England before the war, and her struggle from a very young age with a rare form of juvenile arthritis.
With the same no-nonsense vigor that is the hallmark of her historical novels for children, Sutcliff recalls her first twenty-five years. . .Brief but rich, frank but never sloppy: a crisp little gem for Sutcliff fans and connoisseurs of childhood memoirs. —Kirkus Reviews
Remarkable. . . not only for the clarity of her memory and for her determination to be honest, however painful the revelation, but also for her considerable powers of description. —The Times (London)
Evocative and moving for its memories of the countryside and for its insight into the inner life of the author. . .especially poignant as the reader comes to understand the emotional pain that accompanied the physical. But Sutcliff's handicap was of the body, not of the mind or spirit, and in the end her recollections are an affirmation and, in their own way, a joy. —Publishers Weekly
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