The Rider of the White Horse

by Rosemary Sutcliff

Set in England's civil war,this period of England's history is seen through the eyes of Sir Thomas Fairfax and his wife Anne. For three years she trailed in the wake of her husband as his exploits on the battlefield become legendary, and she coped with the less than comfortable and exhausting lifestyle so that she could be with her husband when he needed her. The vivid writing of the author conveys the essence of this blood thirsty period in England's history.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, 17th Century, Young Adult, War, Classics

285 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Rosemary 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...

Reviews

[Christina Baehr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most Elizabeth Goudge-like of all Sutcliff’s works, and it holds a special place in my heart because for years I wondered if the two authors knew each other or read each other’s works, since they shared an illustrator (the marvellous C Walter Hodges) and many tastes. Then I finally found a copy of this novel and lo and behold this edition has in introduction by Goudge gushing about the novel!

I felt like my literary divining-rod was doing very well indeed. *pats self on back*

On my first reading of this years ago, I rated it 3 stars. This weekend I got it out and read the bulk of it again (for Reasons), skimming some parts. I had a very different reaction to it this time.

I think the reason I gave it a low rating the first time was that it just wasn’t the book I wanted it to be.

I knew that Lady Anne Fairfax was famous for accompanying her husband, parliament’s general, Sir Thomas Fairfax, on his military campaigns during the English Civil Wars and I imagined a really satisfying, romantic story about a close, loving marriage.

What was I thinking? This is a Rosemary Sutcliff novel 😅

This novel focuses on two things—Fairfax’s military career in the first part of the wars (and the emotional arc of the wars is beautifully drawn here, with fabulous cameos on both sides of the conflicts, and Sutcliff’s trademark depth in writing male characters), and Anne’s emotional life as a wife and mother, dealing with sickness, loss, danger, and her own disappointment in her husband’s failure to meet her emotional needs, and her decision to meet his anyway.

The latter part of this really rubbed me the wrong way the first time I read it. Partly because I felt it was unfair to take a historical couple who likely enjoyed a companionate marriage and write a story about emotional disconnection. But that’s what Sutcliff chose to do, and this time, reading it in my 40s, I respected it, though it’s not what I would have chosen as a writer personally.

The other thing that annoyed me at the time was why Anne couldn’t be fully satisfied with her husband’s unfailing respect, courtesy, trust, and kindness towards her. He’s such a lovely character, and I struggled to connect with her dissatisfaction with him.

As a more mature reader, I was able to accept that Sutcliff’s Anne longs for a different kind of relationship, with more emotional openness and intimacy, and it’s ok for her to want that. I was also able to better respect a character who realises that her husband is in the middle of an unprecedented war and needs her support, and to put her needs on hold as much as she can and find what joy she can in the life that has fallen to her, treating everyone she encounters with care and kindness, even her enemies.

Is it a blueprint for a happy, healthy marriage? No. And I don’t think Sutcliff intended it as that. It’s a story about a couple who entered into an arranged marriage neither of them particularly wanted, and then have to practise faithfulness and love towards each other as best they can in unprecedented times.

In Sutcliff style, it has some of the most astonishingly beautiful passages I have ever read, which ravish the reader with scents and colours, with the wildflowers and landscapes of Yorkshire, and the rich interiors of 17th century English houses.

Like Elizabeth Goudge, I can gush about this book now. It is also, I believe, a far better and truer novel of the Stuart period than Goudge’s THE CHILD FROM THE SEA. But that’s a subject for another time…

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Rosemary Sutcliff's writing is always good -- she knows just how to pick out the bright and dark points to illustrate a scene with graceful simplicity: maybe the light of a fire flickering, maybe a moth fluttering around a candle, maybe the treasured glasses that are remnants of an earlier time filled with wine for once... -- it turns out I'm not that interested in this period, or at least, not in her attempts at writing this period. It hardly seems likely that a Sutcliff book failed to keep my attention, but it's unfortunately true.

I'm giving it three stars anyway, because it's Rosemary Sutcliff and therefore always a pleasure to read.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set during the English Civil War in the 17th century, I found myself pulled into a period I had not studied for many years, bringing new context to the dry textbook descriptions (you know, "... and won the battle of [x] which subsequently ensured victory for...") by showing us the effects on the real people. Not just those who were titled and therefore worthy of remembrance, but the effects of siege, rebellion, and sacking on the everyday townsfolk who cared less about the Divine Right of Kings than potential crop failure or lootings.

And here, Thomas Fairfax, a general in the Parliamentarian army, holds the spotlight away from the later and more well-known Oliver Cromwell. I don't know whether the real Anne followed him, but it brought new life to the novel and a better personal look at a historical character known for being conscientious, metholdical and humble.

Rosemary Sutcliff brings the land itself to life, with her descriptions of the gardens and flowers, and draws all the senses into each battle. The humming of the bells and a pillion saddle were details I'd never previously considered, and seeing the Civil War unfold from the ground level, rather than the thousand-foot view of history, gave me new insight into this often-overlooked period.

I expected great things of Rosemary Sutcliff, one of my favorite childhood authors, and she did not disappoint me as an adult reader.


Disclaimer: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Suzannah Rowntree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breath-takingly beautiful writing. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and will hope to review in more depth later :)

[Keith Currie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Tom and his white lady

The first time I ever heard of Sir Thomas Fairfax was when at ten years old I was reading Rosemary Sutcliff’s novel Simon. The author’s admiration for the Parliamentarian general was clear from this novel and has stayed with me throughout my life. It was therefore a pleasure to discover this ‘adult’ novel by the same author which tells the story of Black Tom Fairfax, his white horse and the early years of the English Civil war.

Perhaps more than Thomas Fairfax, this is the story of his wife, devoted, plain and strong-willed Anne and how she and their little child remained with him during these first years of the war, travelling from siege to siege, enduring separation, deprivation, capture and acceptance of the trials and miseries of campaign.

The story is an exciting one, as well told as one would expect from the author of ‘Eagle of the Ninth’. One of the most successful and fascinating aspects of the narrative is the sense of chivalry shown by both sides at the beginning of the war, but also the dark hints and foreshadowing of what is to come as the war becomes more brutal and, I suppose, professional. There are many scenes of great emotional power: Molls, the Fairfax’ little daughter, left in the care of a poor woman and her mentally disabled son; Anne persuading Lord Newcastle, the Royalist general, not to permit his victorious troops to loot the captured town of Bradford; Cromwell’s gift to Molls, a Roman coin, showing a ‘king’ with his head severed at the neck – this is a terrific novel by a master story-teller.

[imngrer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely delightful book as you would expect from the pen of Rosemary Sutcliff.

As ever she depicts the historical events with great skill even if modern scholarship would now indicate that her wonderful Sir Thomas is rather far from the truth. However, having recently listened to Hilary Mantel describe how she created Henry VIII for her novel Wolf Hall and having to "knit" the personality of Henry and make him "work within the economy of the novel", and assuming that Sutcliff had to achieve a similar affect, I don't mind that the facts don't quite match because her novel really works in its own right. And, that is very much more than many modern historical novelists can claim.

[Ness Kingsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's just ... just my cup of tea.

You could not hold a winged thing; you could not even perfectly remember it afterwards, for that, too, was a kind of holding

[Igenlode Wordsmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is in effect the adult version of Simon, and I was very excited to read it. But unfortunately it just isn't as successful - quite possibly because the author was constrained by historical fact, which doesn't necessarily make for a good narrative shape... (To be fair, it might also be because this Peacock edition turns out to be abridged, which, as I have learnt from translations of "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Twenty Years After", can preserve the main plot of a story while robbing it of much of its incidental interest and resulting charm.)

The one thing I knew about Lady Fairfax before reading this book was that she famously spoke out at the trial of Charles I (from which her husband had absented himself on principle), and in fact the novel doesn't actually include that incident! Or any of Fairfax's successful career as commander of the New Model Army, at the point when Parliament started winning the war - the book focuses on the struggling moments when he was fighting against the odds and looked as if he might lose, which I suppose makes for a more dramatic story, but is a bit disconcerting. The story here pretty much stops where the portrayal of Fairfax in "Simon" begins.

But then the book also goes on beyond the dramatic episodes trailed in the blurb, when his wife Anne travelled around the country to follow in the wake of his battles (and, it turns out, was in fact captured on one occasion as a result). Constrained by historical fact, she has to go back home to her mother and sit in the background for the rest of the war, and that makes for an oddly unsatisfactory shape to the story as well. It looks as if the intended structure was to present the period of Fairfax's career during which he was the semi-mythical and inspirational Rider on the White Horse (who was, interestingly, a 'White Surrey' - "We are all a little King Richard's men, here in his own land" of the North), and end with the symbolic retirement of the horse as well as the death of his elder brother, to represent the passage to the new and better-known part of his life. It just doesn't feel like a particularly resounding ending, or a compelling narrative arc for Anne as a whole.

This novel has plenty of Sutcliff's trademark descriptions and beautiful writing, and has as good prose as anything else she has written. It just isn't anything like as effective as a *story* as her classic children's books, or, for example, her compelling Arthurian novel Sword at Sunset.

[Mary Faulkner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing in every way. Deep, well-developed characters who change throughout the story, suspense, beautiful descriptions, thoughts go much deeper than surface level...

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cover a fictional account of the first three years of the English Civil War as seen through the lifes of Sir Thomas Fairfax and his wife Anne.
Enji]oyed the book but then I have always had an interest in English history and so may not be to the liking of everybody.
A NetGalley Book

[E Vikander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Civil War again envelops England in 1643 as Charles Stuart, King of England, fights with Parliament. Sir Thomas Fairfax, Black Tom, is a commander fabled for riding a white stallion fighting against the royalists who defend the King. But this story is not just one of battles fought; it is also the story of Anne Fairfax who bravely follows her husband from town to town to provide support for his chronic illness and to nurse the injured. Originally published in 1959, Sutclliff has written a graceful historical fiction that encompasses a women’s point of view. She has a kindness to her writing that makes the story a joy to read.

[Alison Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favourite books. Not really a young adult book at all, it brings the complex character of Sir Thomas Fairfax and his vexed relationship with his adoring but unfulfilled wife to life.

[Zoe Colvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last year I read a very long book called The Civil War, in an attempt to understand that period of British history. What I did understand by the end is why it is not a period covered on the school curriculum. It is messy and complicated and hard to parcel into neat conclusions.

After I finished it I remembered that as a child I had enjoyed a book about Cavaliers by Rosemary Sutcliff. I still had my copy of the book so I dug it out and discovered it is in fact about Sir Thomas Fairfax who took Cromwell's side. More particularly it is about his wife Anne.

The book is The Rider of the White Horse, and I was delighted to find it entirely undisappointing on a second reading. Sutcliff writes vivid and beautiful descriptions and creates living characters the reader is engaged by. I was struck by the fact that two fairly major characters are disabled but that there is nothing at all propagandistic in Sutcliff's portrayal of them. I then discovered that she herself was disabled and in a way that made it all the more admirable that she hadn't felt the need to crudely hammer home any messages about the disabled person's plight.

But Sutcliff is far too good a writer for that. Her story is moving and exciting, her evocation of landscape and of interiors is marvellous and, although the book was published as part of the Peacock series, and thus intended for younger readers, she never writes down or patronises her readers in any way.

[Mark Bowden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book decades ago, have been promising myself to return to it and have at last done so. I think it has aged rather well. Some of the dialogue is a bit hi-falutin' and where explication is involved, as when people are describing far distant battlefields, it can become a little stilted. However, on the whole it is beautifully written and very evocative. It is also, as far as I can tell, historically accurate.

[Colleen Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book as compulsory reading in the 8th grade when I was growing up in Australia. I remember enjoying it then and I did the second time. Very interesting historical fiction of the life of Thomas Fairfax through the eyes of his wife during the civil war in England. She was much involved in her husband’s life and instrumental in some military outcomes it seems. Highly recommend it.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cavaliers and Roundheads from a technically speaking Roundhead point of view. More grown up and nuanced than I expected/remembered from Sutcliff when I was little but change might not be her

[Elizabeth Scheller Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Ball State for lending this book through InterLibrary Loan!

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosemary Sutcliff is an author I’ve been meaning to read for years, having heard only good things about her work. I wasn’t planning to start with this particular book (The Eagle of the Ninth and Sword at Sunset are the ones which have been recommended to me most often) but as I had the opportunity to read The Rider of the White Horse via NetGalley and have been enjoying other books set in the same time period recently, I thought I would give it a try.

Many of Rosemary Sutcliff’s books were written for younger readers, but this is one of her adult novels, published in 1959. The ‘rider’ of the title is Sir Thomas Fairfax, also known as Black Tom, commander-in-chief of the Parliamentarian army during the English Civil War, and the ‘white horse’ refers to his stallion, White Surrey. Sutcliff’s novel tells Fairfax’s story, from the events leading up to the conflict, to his exploits on the battlefield and the formation of the New Model Army. But this is also the story of Anne Fairfax, the devoted wife who – along with their daughter, Little Moll – follows her husband to war.

Written largely from Anne’s perspective, The Rider of the White Horse is a moving portrayal of the relationship between husband and wife. It’s not so much a sweeping romance as a quiet, poignant tale of a woman with a passionate love for a man whom she knows does not – and probably never will – feel the same way about her. Despite this, Anne wants to be there for Thomas whenever he needs her; she wants to help in any way she can. Following him on campaign, travelling from one town to another, a lot of time is spent anxiously awaiting news of Thomas, but Anne also has adventures of her own – including one episode in which she is captured by the Royalist commander, Lord Newcastle.

As for Thomas Fairfax himself, I have to admit that he’s someone I previously knew very little about. Although I’ve read other books (both fiction and non-fiction) about the Civil War, Fairfax tends to be overshadowed by Oliver Cromwell. In this novel, he comes across as a decent, humble, honourable man who loves his daughter and – even if he is unable to return her feelings – appreciates and respects his wife. He is portrayed very sympathetically, which I hadn’t really expected as from the little I’d read about him I had picked up a more negative impression. Of course, that could be partly because I tend to be drawn more to the Royalist side anyway (not for any good reason, I have to confess, but purely because from a fictional point of view, they seem more colourful and interesting). I have no idea how accurate this portrait of Thomas is – or how much of Anne’s story is based on fact – but I did like this version of both characters.

I’ve never been a fan of battle scenes as I often find them boring and difficult to follow. There are several in this novel and while I could see that they were detailed and well-written, they didn’t interest me as much as the domestic and family scenes. Luckily for me, there are plenty of these too. What I’ll remember most, though, is the character of Anne and her love for a man who is simply not able to give her what she wants, cherishing each moment of happiness, however brief and fleeting…“You could not hold a winged thing; you could not even perfectly remember it afterwards, for that, too, was a kind of holding.”

[Maureen E · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s going to be quite a bit of Sutcliff on the rest of this list. Rider on a White Horse was brand-new to me and oh-so-good. Set during the English Civil War, it followed General Thomas Fairfax, of the Parliamentary forces, and his wife Anne. While I actually tend to be more on the Royalist side myself, this was a nuanced and balanced account and both Thomas and Anne Fairfax emerged as moderate and extremely sympathetic characters.

[Doodles McC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good history book for young girls. I loved Sutcliff's historical novels as a child and young teenager, she was one of my favourite authors. I am not going review them all individually because all her books are good. If your looking for children's historical novels, just start at the beginning of her books and read them all. This is how I learned British history.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the references to Don Quixote in this novel and all the description

[Margareth8537 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book about Fairfax and became an avid fan

[Bettie]

https://twitter.com/BradfordMuseums/s...