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Tristan and Iseult
Retells the Celtic legend of the love between the warrior Tristan and Iseult, the wife of King Marc of Cornwall.
139 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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873 people want to read
About the author
Rosemary Sutcliff
107 books677 followersRosemary Sutcliff, CBE (1920-1992) was a British novelist, best known as a writer of highly acclaimed historical fiction. Although primarily a children's author, the quality and depth of her writing also appeals to adults. She once commented that she wrote "for children of all ages, from nine to ninety."
Born in West Clandon, Surrey, Sutcliff spent her early youth in Malta and other naval bases where her father was stationed as a naval officer. She contracted Still's Disease when she was very young and was confined to a wheelchair for most of her life. Due to her chronic sickness, she spent the majority of her time with her mother, a tireless storyteller, from whom she learned many of the Celtic and Saxon legends that she would later expand into works of historical fiction. Her early schooling being continually interrupted by moving house and her disabling condition, Sutcliff didn't learn to read until she was nine, and left school at fourteen to enter the Bideford Art School, which she attended for three years, graduating from the General Art Course. She then worked as a painter of miniatures.
Rosemary Sutcliff began her career as a writer in 1950 with The Chronicles of Robin Hood. She found her voice when she wrote The Eagle of the Ninth in 1954. In 1959, she won the Carnegie Medal for The Lantern Bearers and was runner-up in 1972 with Tristan and Iseult. In 1974 she was highly commended for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. Her The Mark of the Horse Lord won the first Phoenix Award in 1985.
Sutcliff lived for many years in Walberton near Arundel, Sussex. In 1975 she was appointed OBE for services to Children's Literature and promoted to CBE in 1992. She wrote incessantly throughout her life, and was still writing on the morning of her death. She never married.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/rosema...
Born in West Clandon, Surrey, Sutcliff spent her early youth in Malta and other naval bases where her father was stationed as a naval officer. She contracted Still's Disease when she was very young and was confined to a wheelchair for most of her life. Due to her chronic sickness, she spent the majority of her time with her mother, a tireless storyteller, from whom she learned many of the Celtic and Saxon legends that she would later expand into works of historical fiction. Her early schooling being continually interrupted by moving house and her disabling condition, Sutcliff didn't learn to read until she was nine, and left school at fourteen to enter the Bideford Art School, which she attended for three years, graduating from the General Art Course. She then worked as a painter of miniatures.
Rosemary Sutcliff began her career as a writer in 1950 with The Chronicles of Robin Hood. She found her voice when she wrote The Eagle of the Ninth in 1954. In 1959, she won the Carnegie Medal for The Lantern Bearers and was runner-up in 1972 with Tristan and Iseult. In 1974 she was highly commended for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. Her The Mark of the Horse Lord won the first Phoenix Award in 1985.
Sutcliff lived for many years in Walberton near Arundel, Sussex. In 1975 she was appointed OBE for services to Children's Literature and promoted to CBE in 1992. She wrote incessantly throughout her life, and was still writing on the morning of her death. She never married.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/rosema...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
July 25, 2012
I started writing a review of this retelling of the sad, beautiful story of Tristan and Iseult. And then the review turned into my own retelling. And then it turned into something that I didn't feel quite up to sharing with the world. And so.
If you need the bare outlines of the story, here it is. The story of King Marc, Tristan and Iseult underpins that of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot. Sutcliff's retelling is romantic, stately, heartbreaking, classical, shot through with the occasional dart of humour, and often startlingly sexy for a book aimed at children.
There is also an emotional nuance that surprises me - a wisdom about the complicated ways we love:
In her introduction, Sutcliff writes that she attempted to strip the story back to some of its original Celtic fierceness and darkness, and in doing so, made one very significant change:
The love potion makes Tristan and Iseult characters; pawns to the narrative, helpless to their fates. Without the potion, they are human: loving and flawed, seeking happiness in one another, seeking honour in the world, wanting not to hurt anyone, stumbling and falling - falling together, falling apart - and losing it all.
If you need the bare outlines of the story, here it is. The story of King Marc, Tristan and Iseult underpins that of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot. Sutcliff's retelling is romantic, stately, heartbreaking, classical, shot through with the occasional dart of humour, and often startlingly sexy for a book aimed at children.
And beyond, Iseult sat among the piled cushions, combing her hair that was red as hot copper in the smoky torchlight.
She said, “Put out that torch. It has served to guide you to me, and the moon is better for keeping secrets.” And laid aside her silver comb and held out her arms to him.
There is also an emotional nuance that surprises me - a wisdom about the complicated ways we love:
For Tristan also, the months and the years went by. He had thrust Iseult of Cornwall from his life; and he had found a kind of peace that was sometimes almost happiness with Iseult White-hands. He had never told her of the other Iseult, but she had always guess the meaning of the woman’s ring that hung round his neck, and because she loved him she knew the rest without being told, and knew when he turned from the owner of the ring, and did all she could to heal the hurt, and yet could not help being glad that the hurt was there for her healing.
In her introduction, Sutcliff writes that she attempted to strip the story back to some of its original Celtic fierceness and darkness, and in doing so, made one very significant change:
In all the versions that we know, Tristan and Iseult fall in love because they accidentally drink together a love potion which was meant for Iseult and her husband, King Marc, on their wedding night. Now the story of Tristan and Iseult is Diarmid and Grania, and Deirdre and the Sons of Usna, and in neither of them is there any suggestion of a love potion. I am sure in my own mind that the medieval storytellers added it to make an excuse for Tristan and Iseult for being in love with each other when Iseult was married to somebody else. And for me, this turns something that was real and living and part of themselves into something artificial, the result of drinking a sort of magic drug.
So I have left out the love potion.
Because everyone else who has retold the tale in the past eight hundred years has kept it in, it is only fair to tell you this. I can only tell the story in the way which feels right to me in my own heart of hearts.
The love potion makes Tristan and Iseult characters; pawns to the narrative, helpless to their fates. Without the potion, they are human: loving and flawed, seeking happiness in one another, seeking honour in the world, wanting not to hurt anyone, stumbling and falling - falling together, falling apart - and losing it all.
May 21, 2009
I first read this book when I was ten or eleven. I used to walk to our public library once a week with my sister(s), and I spent much of my summers reading. I always had an intense interest in mythology -- especially anything to do with the King Arthur Legends. Because I was an advanced reader, I had a good grasp of the story. If you are a teen with a good vocabulary I highly recommend this book; even for an adult that wants to know the Tristan/Iseult story (without the addition of the love potion). I think it'd be more appropriate for a young teen. The story is a rich and exotic retelling of the Tristan & Iseult/Isolde myth. It is true that the characters are not as deep as they could be --but it is bathed in the medieval backdrop and integrated so well that it can be told in less than 200 pages. I remembered this book from my youth....it was ingrained so deeply that I special ordered it about ten years ago so I could re-read and enjoy it again. I wasn't disappointed, and ten years ago was when I happened to be diagnosed with MS, I spent an entire summer reading books (well, taking turns reading) with my girls as I was bedridden. Now that they are older, I know I will cherish that summer. More and more of my time is spent alone in my bed missing out on "life". If it wasn't for books, movies, and the internet....I'd be bored stiff.
March 23, 2025
Denne boken fortjener mer enn det mine ord kan beskrive. Den er blitt gjenstand for utallige motiver i dikt, opera og musikk. Fortellingen er opphavet til «Tristanisme», kjærlighetsmyten. Den eneste mulige kjærlighet og samtidig den umulige. Myten om lidenskapens iboende paradoks og smerte. Fortellingen er universiell, selv om konteksten er middelalderen og et føydalt samfunn. Lidenskapelig kjærlighet møter sitt sanne jeg- det tragiske, galskapen, idealiseringen. Det er en kjærlighet som er uforenelig med livet, og som av den grunn har døden som sitt uunngåelige utfall.
November 15, 2016
[NB: This review was originally published on The Warden's Walk on January 15, 2012. ]
In most of her novels, Sutcliff’s prose evokes deep, earthy textures that seep into you as you read; sometimes you have to slow down a bit and breathe a bit slower as her sentences curl their roots around your imagination, intending to stay and grow there. In Tristan & Iseult, her prose is quicker, livelier, but still uniquely hers, like a thickly woven tapestry which is not as immersive as, say, a sculpture, but is not as two-dimensional as a painting. At least, that is how I think of it. It’s the perfect style for this story, hovering as it does between historical fiction and legend. We watch it unfold in a fairly accurately-described Wales, Ireland, and Brittany, but on the edges of the tale are King Arthur and a dragon, and at its center is the tragic love triangle that gave birth to the intrigues of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot.
What makes it especially tragic is that there is no villain. We love all three of them, and they all love each other: Tristan, Iseult, and King Marc. They are all good people, who desire justice and admire it in others. When Marc discovers the affair, neither of the lovers can blame him for his anger and pain, because they know in their hearts they have wronged him. But they are too weak to the temptations of the flesh to stop themselves, and King Marc too hurt by the betrayal of his two dearest companions, that we feel the threads of a black fate tightening around them all, bringing inevitable doom and heartbreak to the end.
And when he made no reply, she said, ‘Shall I tell you the true reason that I did not kill you when I found the splinter lacking from your sword blade?’
‘I am thinking,’ said Tristan, ‘that it is best you do not tell me.’
‘It was because I loved you,’ said the Princess. ‘I was not knowing it then. I was not knowing why it was like a sword turning in my heart when you stood before my father and claimed me for the King of Cornwall when I had thought to hear you claim me for yourself. I was not knowing until you lifted me in your arms to carry me ashore in this place. Tristan, whoever takes me for his wife, whether you will or no, and God help me, you are my Lord as long as I live.’
And Tristan bent his head into his hands and groaned.
Although these are the characters and landscape of legend, Sutcliff writes them with tender dignity and a sort of restrained realism, the kind that takes note that the trees overhanging the lovers’ hideout are not just any trees, but hazel and hawthorn and thick-set oak. They are flesh and blood and tears; whereas some medieval versions of the story invoked a love potion to force Tristan and Iseult into adultery, here it is just their passion and their loneliness. There is some room for epic heroism, though. Tristan’s worries and passions are recognizably human, but his feats are just larger enough than life to inject the somber tale with some good, old-fashioned thrill and excitement.
The gulls wove their white curves of flight across the face of the cliffs below him; the jump would have been death to any other man, but Tristan had learned well from his masters in his Lothian boyhood, and had not forgotten how to make the Hero Leap. He filled himself with air until he felt as light as the wheeling sea-birds, and drew himself together and sprang out and down.
If I have one criticism of the book, it is that Sutcliff makes Tristan so good, honest, and self-controlled that I can hardly believe he would actually betray his uncle and best friend with Iseult. Both he and Iseult know it is wrong, and Tristan at least is very principled. I didn’t quite believe that they would give into their passions, when Marc himself is so good and worthy a friend to them both. But this is legend, and their fates are sealed. I think I can detect, from Sutcliff’s telling, a loneliness to both Tristan and Iseult. They each are greatly loved by many people and have many friends, but no true spiritual companions except each other. Maybe that’s why Sutcliff thinks they fell into each others’ arms so desperately, so often, despite the harm they knew they were doing to a good man.
In most of her novels, Sutcliff’s prose evokes deep, earthy textures that seep into you as you read; sometimes you have to slow down a bit and breathe a bit slower as her sentences curl their roots around your imagination, intending to stay and grow there. In Tristan & Iseult, her prose is quicker, livelier, but still uniquely hers, like a thickly woven tapestry which is not as immersive as, say, a sculpture, but is not as two-dimensional as a painting. At least, that is how I think of it. It’s the perfect style for this story, hovering as it does between historical fiction and legend. We watch it unfold in a fairly accurately-described Wales, Ireland, and Brittany, but on the edges of the tale are King Arthur and a dragon, and at its center is the tragic love triangle that gave birth to the intrigues of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot.
What makes it especially tragic is that there is no villain. We love all three of them, and they all love each other: Tristan, Iseult, and King Marc. They are all good people, who desire justice and admire it in others. When Marc discovers the affair, neither of the lovers can blame him for his anger and pain, because they know in their hearts they have wronged him. But they are too weak to the temptations of the flesh to stop themselves, and King Marc too hurt by the betrayal of his two dearest companions, that we feel the threads of a black fate tightening around them all, bringing inevitable doom and heartbreak to the end.
And when he made no reply, she said, ‘Shall I tell you the true reason that I did not kill you when I found the splinter lacking from your sword blade?’
‘I am thinking,’ said Tristan, ‘that it is best you do not tell me.’
‘It was because I loved you,’ said the Princess. ‘I was not knowing it then. I was not knowing why it was like a sword turning in my heart when you stood before my father and claimed me for the King of Cornwall when I had thought to hear you claim me for yourself. I was not knowing until you lifted me in your arms to carry me ashore in this place. Tristan, whoever takes me for his wife, whether you will or no, and God help me, you are my Lord as long as I live.’
And Tristan bent his head into his hands and groaned.
Although these are the characters and landscape of legend, Sutcliff writes them with tender dignity and a sort of restrained realism, the kind that takes note that the trees overhanging the lovers’ hideout are not just any trees, but hazel and hawthorn and thick-set oak. They are flesh and blood and tears; whereas some medieval versions of the story invoked a love potion to force Tristan and Iseult into adultery, here it is just their passion and their loneliness. There is some room for epic heroism, though. Tristan’s worries and passions are recognizably human, but his feats are just larger enough than life to inject the somber tale with some good, old-fashioned thrill and excitement.
The gulls wove their white curves of flight across the face of the cliffs below him; the jump would have been death to any other man, but Tristan had learned well from his masters in his Lothian boyhood, and had not forgotten how to make the Hero Leap. He filled himself with air until he felt as light as the wheeling sea-birds, and drew himself together and sprang out and down.
If I have one criticism of the book, it is that Sutcliff makes Tristan so good, honest, and self-controlled that I can hardly believe he would actually betray his uncle and best friend with Iseult. Both he and Iseult know it is wrong, and Tristan at least is very principled. I didn’t quite believe that they would give into their passions, when Marc himself is so good and worthy a friend to them both. But this is legend, and their fates are sealed. I think I can detect, from Sutcliff’s telling, a loneliness to both Tristan and Iseult. They each are greatly loved by many people and have many friends, but no true spiritual companions except each other. Maybe that’s why Sutcliff thinks they fell into each others’ arms so desperately, so often, despite the harm they knew they were doing to a good man.
October 25, 2011
I was very disappointed in this. The women come off as manipulative and mean, and the men as meaning well people who are pansies in their women's hands. Stipulated, Tristan's manipulation is obvious but presented in a very positive light. I think this may partly show the effects of the times it was written, in the 1970s. I suppose it is good that the women aren't just helpless idiots who lie around waiting for men to rescue them, but, baby, we've come a long way since then. I would love to see what Margaret Atwater would do with this story, after reading her Penelopiad!
October 22, 2011
The way Sutcliff chose to tell this story sort of turned me off. She chose to tell it as a legend with very strict and rigid fact-telling. She did a very good job of it, and I'm sure she had her reasons for the style she chose. I just think I would have connected to the characters much more and been drawn into the story much more if she had chosen one POV character and told the story from his/her point of view with a lot more dialogue--inner and outer, and feelings.
July 28, 2019
I liked the beautiful, lyrical way in which this was written. It was almost like closing my eyes and listening to the voice of a bard of old, except that I had my eyes open in order to read it. It was a story that made me think, but the more I thought about it, the less I really liked the actual story.
December 9, 2019
Dnf. Not my cup of tea at all
October 16, 2025
Rounded up from 3 1/2 stars.
Forget Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde (Iseult) are the original and ultimate forbidden lovers.
I have always loved the story of Tristan and Isolde (as awful as it is), and I was excited to read this version. It was pretty good, and I understood the changes Sutcliff made (the whole love potion thing), but I don't know if I enjoyed the story more for her changes. However, Sutcliff kept the beauty and romance, and utter tragedy for the most part, though it was so strung out that I found myself getting frustrated at our favorite couple and thinking, Lol.
Forget Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde (Iseult) are the original and ultimate forbidden lovers.
I have always loved the story of Tristan and Isolde (as awful as it is), and I was excited to read this version. It was pretty good, and I understood the changes Sutcliff made (the whole love potion thing), but I don't know if I enjoyed the story more for her changes. However, Sutcliff kept the beauty and romance, and utter tragedy for the most part, though it was so strung out that I found myself getting frustrated at our favorite couple and thinking, Lol.
Read
February 23, 2018It was like Romeo and Juliet two people’s love fight for one another.The book was amazing!!!!!!!!, the best, those are my type of books I’m in that category the book was that good I am not going to say anything about it but people who love romance with action that is the book for them it it was mind blowing who knew when my mom handed me the book at first I thought it was going to be boring!! But it wasn’t it was good ok I’m goin to tell the plot . So Tristin who was Romeo was supposed to be getting a wife for the the king 🤴 when he got her they had to be stuck on the edge and Iseult who was Juliet fell in love with her ❤️❤️ they both fell in love. When they got back the king 🤴 notice there love for each other so they ran away but the king caught them and he got so mad he punished both of them that is and the part I cannot tell you but like I said it was good!!!!!!!!
November 6, 2025
I've enjoyed everything that Rosemary Sutcliff has written. This retelling of the legend of Tristan and Iseult is a satisfying blend of heroism, friendship, love, and tragedy.
February 16, 2018
Loved it. 💔
November 30, 2020
You would think that if someone is going to translate something, they would do it in more modern English so that it is a bit easier to understand.
December 22, 2022
To end the war between Cornwall and Ireland, Tristan is sent by his uncle, King Marc to collect his bride, the Irish Princess Iseult and form a royal pact. But when the two meet, love intervenes and tragedy ensues.
For centuries, the legend of Tristan and Iseult has been folded into the wider Arthurian mythos, but to do this is an injustice to the source. Here, Sutcliffe gives the heroes the room they need to breathe and thus the tale more closely mirrors the great Irish Sorrows it resembles.
For centuries, the legend of Tristan and Iseult has been folded into the wider Arthurian mythos, but to do this is an injustice to the source. Here, Sutcliffe gives the heroes the room they need to breathe and thus the tale more closely mirrors the great Irish Sorrows it resembles.
February 28, 2018
Finally! After being a wee bit disappointed with the by-the-number summa of the Parzival by Katherine Paterson, I was pleasantly surprised by this beautifully crafted retelling of "Tristan & Iseult" by Rosemary Sutcliff. Most readers will perhaps be more familiar with her other books about Roman Britain such as the "Lantern Bearers," which introduces the figure of King Arthur (not a king, though) and from which the Arthur story is carried forward in the novel, "Sword at Sunset." Sutcliff additionally has written an Arthurian trilogy, in which she collects into three volumes many of "greatest hits" of Arthurian legend including "Sir Gawain & the Green Knight" and this Tristan story very much in condensed form.
Still, this is the version you want to read as an introduction to the classic versions, as Sutcliff presents the story closer to the rendering it may have had before it was grafted unto the Arthurian cycle. And I will go out on a limb to confess that for me, this version is, by far, superior to Malory's version. Malory's version just feels incomplete and convoluted, as if there was nowhere else to go with a tale that had sprawled and branched out far too many distracting leaves for its own good.
On the other hand, the Sutcliff rendition here gives us a discernible beginning, middle and end. What Sutcliff decided to excise (ie., the magic potion) has given more depth to the tragedy. The other elements absent in other versions but she includes such as the dragon give the story a wonderful faery-tale backdrop to the whole. But while the book may be aimed at young readers, there are some sexual subtleties (or perhaps not so subtle) as Iseult "clung to him (Tristan) as a honeysuckle clinging to a hazel tree."
I seriously don't know what I would have made of this part had I read this at a young age when I just wanted to get to the good bits a la "Princess Bride"—bits like Tristan up against the dragon in Ireland. I felt like this book was good in the same sense that Mary Stewart's "The Prince & the Pilgrim" is good, in that it lures us with particular bit of the Arthurian cycle and makes it a stand alone story as opposed to burying it in an endless sprawl of jousts and quests.
This may sound like a bit of blasphemy, but I would highly recommend this rendition along with Mary Stewart's take on the Alexander story (which is indeed a part of Malory's Tristan book) as way to entice readers into further exploration of these wonderful legends.
Still, this is the version you want to read as an introduction to the classic versions, as Sutcliff presents the story closer to the rendering it may have had before it was grafted unto the Arthurian cycle. And I will go out on a limb to confess that for me, this version is, by far, superior to Malory's version. Malory's version just feels incomplete and convoluted, as if there was nowhere else to go with a tale that had sprawled and branched out far too many distracting leaves for its own good.
On the other hand, the Sutcliff rendition here gives us a discernible beginning, middle and end. What Sutcliff decided to excise (ie., the magic potion) has given more depth to the tragedy. The other elements absent in other versions but she includes such as the dragon give the story a wonderful faery-tale backdrop to the whole. But while the book may be aimed at young readers, there are some sexual subtleties (or perhaps not so subtle) as Iseult "clung to him (Tristan) as a honeysuckle clinging to a hazel tree."
I seriously don't know what I would have made of this part had I read this at a young age when I just wanted to get to the good bits a la "Princess Bride"—bits like Tristan up against the dragon in Ireland. I felt like this book was good in the same sense that Mary Stewart's "The Prince & the Pilgrim" is good, in that it lures us with particular bit of the Arthurian cycle and makes it a stand alone story as opposed to burying it in an endless sprawl of jousts and quests.
This may sound like a bit of blasphemy, but I would highly recommend this rendition along with Mary Stewart's take on the Alexander story (which is indeed a part of Malory's Tristan book) as way to entice readers into further exploration of these wonderful legends.
November 23, 2018
It is a beautiful story told in a brilliant way. It was so intense that I didn't close the book many times before reading the last word!
"The story of Tristan and Iseult is basically the same as two other great Celtic love stories, Diarmid and Grania, and Deirdre and the Sons of Usna, and in neither of them is there any suggestion of a love potion. I am sure in my own mind that the medieval storytellers added it to make an excuse for Tristan and Iseult for being in love with each other when Iseult was married to somebody else. And for me, this turns something that was real and living and part of themselves into something artificial, the result of drinking a sort of magic drug. So I have left out the love potion."
"Tristan held up his arms to the Princess as she came out over the side, and carried her up through the shallows so that when he set her down on the white wave pattered sand, not even the soles of her feet were wet. Now this was the first time that ever they had touched each other, save for the times when the Princess had tended Tristan's wounds, and that was a different kind of touching; and as he set her down, their hands came together, as though they did not want it to be so quickly over. And standing hand in hand, they looked at each other, and for the first time Tristan saw that the Princess's eyes were deeply blue, the colour of wild wood-columbines; and she saw that his were as grey as the restless water out beyond the headland. And they were so close that each saw their own reflection standing in the other one's eyes; and in that moment it was as though something of Iseult entered into Tristan and something of Tristan into Iseult, that could never be called back again for as long as they lived."
"And out of Tristan's heart there grew a hazel tree, and out of Iseult's a honeysuckle, and they arched together and clung and intertwined so that they could never be separated anymore."
"The story of Tristan and Iseult is basically the same as two other great Celtic love stories, Diarmid and Grania, and Deirdre and the Sons of Usna, and in neither of them is there any suggestion of a love potion. I am sure in my own mind that the medieval storytellers added it to make an excuse for Tristan and Iseult for being in love with each other when Iseult was married to somebody else. And for me, this turns something that was real and living and part of themselves into something artificial, the result of drinking a sort of magic drug. So I have left out the love potion."
"Tristan held up his arms to the Princess as she came out over the side, and carried her up through the shallows so that when he set her down on the white wave pattered sand, not even the soles of her feet were wet. Now this was the first time that ever they had touched each other, save for the times when the Princess had tended Tristan's wounds, and that was a different kind of touching; and as he set her down, their hands came together, as though they did not want it to be so quickly over. And standing hand in hand, they looked at each other, and for the first time Tristan saw that the Princess's eyes were deeply blue, the colour of wild wood-columbines; and she saw that his were as grey as the restless water out beyond the headland. And they were so close that each saw their own reflection standing in the other one's eyes; and in that moment it was as though something of Iseult entered into Tristan and something of Tristan into Iseult, that could never be called back again for as long as they lived."
"And out of Tristan's heart there grew a hazel tree, and out of Iseult's a honeysuckle, and they arched together and clung and intertwined so that they could never be separated anymore."
February 20, 2017
That you may see other lands and learn their customs.
Long ago, in the days of warriors and heroes, Marc King of Cornwall rewarded Rivalin King of Lothian with the gif t of his sister in marriage for the help he had given him in battle. Rival in carried the princess joyfully back with him to his own land, and a year later they had a son. But the child was named Tristan, which means sorrow, for his mother left the world the day he entered it.
Sixteen years afterwards, when Tristan had learned to ride a horse and handle a hawk and a hound, a sword and a spear, to run and wrestle and leap, and to play the harp as if he played on the very heartstrings of his listeners, he asked his father's leave to go travelling to other lands and try his honor against other men. 'With your leave, I will go fist to Cornwall,' he said.
'Cornwall bas brought me much of joy and much of sorrow,' said his father. 'Maybe it will do the same for you. It is a land unlike all other lands.'
And Tristan said, 'If so, I will count the sorrow as fair payment for the joy, my father.'
So, when the sailing weather came after the winter storms, Tristan and his friends set out for Cornwall, little knowing what strange love and sorrow and tests of loyally would be his in Cornwall, the land where he won Iseult of Ireland's love for himself, yet brought her back to be his uncle's Queen, weaving a story that would be sung and told throughout Europe for centuries to come.
This retelling of the old Celtic story by Rosemary Sutcliff is one of her most memorable books, and one that pleases on many levels.
To most people, the story of Tristan is only one chapter in a book about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. But in fact it is a story in its own right, as old as the oldest stories of King Arthur, and like them, far older than any of the written versions we have today. And it only became joined on to the King Arthur stories quite late in medieval times.
The first written version that we know of dates from about 1150. Approximately ten years later, it was rewritten by a man called Thomas, and some fifty years later still, a great German poet, Gottfried von Strassburg, took Thomas's story and retold it in his own way. Since then, it has been told and told again down the centuries. Over a hundred years ago Wagner made it into one of the great operas of the world.
In its far back beginnings, Tristan is a Celtic legend, a tale woven by harpers round the peat fire in the timber halls of Irish or Welsh or Cornish chieftains, long before the time of chivalrous knights and fair ladies and turreted castles in which it is generally set. The medieval troubadours took it and enriched it, and dressed it in beautiful medieval clothes, but ·if you look, you can still see the Celtic story, fiercer and darker, and (despite the changes) more real, underneath. In this retelling Rosemary Sutcliff has tried to get back to the Celtic original as much as possible, and in doing this she has made one big change in the story. In all the versions that we know, Tristan and Iseult fall in love because they accidentally drink together a love potion which was meant for Iseult and her husband King Marc on their wedding night. Now the story of Tristan and Iseult is basically the same as two other great Celtic love stories, Diarmid and Grania, and Deirdre and the Sons of Usna, and in neither of them is there any suggestion of a love potion. The medieval storytellers possibly or even probably added it to make an excuse for Tristan and Iseult for being in love with each other when Iseult was married to somebody else. Making something that is real and living and part of themselves into something artificial, the result of drinking a sort of magic drug.
And it works wonderfully well.
Long ago, in the days of warriors and heroes, Marc King of Cornwall rewarded Rivalin King of Lothian with the gif t of his sister in marriage for the help he had given him in battle. Rival in carried the princess joyfully back with him to his own land, and a year later they had a son. But the child was named Tristan, which means sorrow, for his mother left the world the day he entered it.
Sixteen years afterwards, when Tristan had learned to ride a horse and handle a hawk and a hound, a sword and a spear, to run and wrestle and leap, and to play the harp as if he played on the very heartstrings of his listeners, he asked his father's leave to go travelling to other lands and try his honor against other men. 'With your leave, I will go fist to Cornwall,' he said.
'Cornwall bas brought me much of joy and much of sorrow,' said his father. 'Maybe it will do the same for you. It is a land unlike all other lands.'
And Tristan said, 'If so, I will count the sorrow as fair payment for the joy, my father.'
So, when the sailing weather came after the winter storms, Tristan and his friends set out for Cornwall, little knowing what strange love and sorrow and tests of loyally would be his in Cornwall, the land where he won Iseult of Ireland's love for himself, yet brought her back to be his uncle's Queen, weaving a story that would be sung and told throughout Europe for centuries to come.
This retelling of the old Celtic story by Rosemary Sutcliff is one of her most memorable books, and one that pleases on many levels.
To most people, the story of Tristan is only one chapter in a book about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. But in fact it is a story in its own right, as old as the oldest stories of King Arthur, and like them, far older than any of the written versions we have today. And it only became joined on to the King Arthur stories quite late in medieval times.
The first written version that we know of dates from about 1150. Approximately ten years later, it was rewritten by a man called Thomas, and some fifty years later still, a great German poet, Gottfried von Strassburg, took Thomas's story and retold it in his own way. Since then, it has been told and told again down the centuries. Over a hundred years ago Wagner made it into one of the great operas of the world.
In its far back beginnings, Tristan is a Celtic legend, a tale woven by harpers round the peat fire in the timber halls of Irish or Welsh or Cornish chieftains, long before the time of chivalrous knights and fair ladies and turreted castles in which it is generally set. The medieval troubadours took it and enriched it, and dressed it in beautiful medieval clothes, but ·if you look, you can still see the Celtic story, fiercer and darker, and (despite the changes) more real, underneath. In this retelling Rosemary Sutcliff has tried to get back to the Celtic original as much as possible, and in doing this she has made one big change in the story. In all the versions that we know, Tristan and Iseult fall in love because they accidentally drink together a love potion which was meant for Iseult and her husband King Marc on their wedding night. Now the story of Tristan and Iseult is basically the same as two other great Celtic love stories, Diarmid and Grania, and Deirdre and the Sons of Usna, and in neither of them is there any suggestion of a love potion. The medieval storytellers possibly or even probably added it to make an excuse for Tristan and Iseult for being in love with each other when Iseult was married to somebody else. Making something that is real and living and part of themselves into something artificial, the result of drinking a sort of magic drug.
And it works wonderfully well.
November 2, 2018
It is incredible how a book can be so sad and beautiful at the same time. "Tristan and Iseult" is different from the usual books, as it does not have a happy end and the mean character, Tristan, is always facing challenges that require his both physical and mental strength.
through the book, we became fascinated and at the same time connected to the characters that are always surprising us with the decisions they make and how they face their problems.
through the book, we became fascinated and at the same time connected to the characters that are always surprising us with the decisions they make and how they face their problems.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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September 1, 2019Short and well done retelling of this old story. No explicit sexual details, but the implications are obvious for those old enough to read the book. The adultery is not glorified, but there is some idea that the characters can't help themselves. "You can't choose who you love." With some discussion, will allow E age 12 to read during year 7. Will re-evaluate for other children as they reach that year.
July 16, 2022
The writing is beautifully done, but the actual story is nothing but a long and somewhat tedious telling of an adulterous affair between two not very interesting people. Iseult comes off as impulsive, self-centered, and certainly not worth Tristan throwing himself away and ruining his close friendship with the likeable King Mark. I only finished it because it was short and I couldn't remember how the story ends (I read the version in The Morte d'Arthur a couple of years ago).
May 7, 2024
A retelling of the ancient Celtic and Arthurian myths of Tristan and Iseult - the author confesses to removing an element (the love potion) which she mentions was not included in many of the parallel Celtic stories that presumably served as inspiration, and she thinks was a later addition to the story anyway. Other than that, it seems to be a fairly faithful fictionalized retelling of the myth, and a fairly enjoyable read with my kids . . .
July 31, 2025
Sutcliff's novel is a cute rendition this old tale. It is filled with love, danger, adventure, and heroic acts done in the declaration of the people our protagonist loves. Her translation of this story is an easy read, making this accessible to more readers than some of this stories renditions by other authors. It's a King Arthur's knights of the round table meets Romeo and Juliet in a fun novel that you will want to read until the very end.
September 24, 2022
And out of Tristan's heart there grew a hazel tree, and
out of Iseult's a honeysuckle, and they arched together and
clung and intertwined so that they could never be separated
any more.
A beautiful and enchanting Tristan & Iseult retelling. 🤍
out of Iseult's a honeysuckle, and they arched together and
clung and intertwined so that they could never be separated
any more.
A beautiful and enchanting Tristan & Iseult retelling. 🤍
October 7, 2023
This was a pleasure to read. I am a fan of Sutcliff's lyric historical fiction and her sophisticated retelling of ancient literary tales, so I knew I was in good hands when I picked this up this classic story. Transporting and tragic in the best way.
November 21, 2024
Never read a version so deep, emotionally intended. The singularity of both characters is settled in a way that offers the reader a fistful of nuances we shall forget by reading the original. Excellent!
September 28, 2025
Such a good retelling. Sutcliff captured the magic and tragedy of the story. What ultimately drives Tristan and Iseult apart at the end is actually quite silly and not really believable, but it is what it is. I would still recommend this version though and hope others will enjoy it.
December 7, 2017
A retelling of Tristram and Iseult with out the love potion. But with dragons.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 31, 2018
Pretty good.
Made me feel compassion for the characters involved and was saddened at the quick ending and outcome.
Good book.
Made me feel compassion for the characters involved and was saddened at the quick ending and outcome.
Good book.
January 31, 2019
This story has been retold and written in centuries . Tristan and Iseult fall in love . But iseult must marry the king, there are many difficulties on their life ....
April 15, 2019
Soon my review
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