The Capricorn Bracelet

by Rosemary Sutcliff, Richard Cuffari (Illustrator)

Relates the struggles and challenges met by members of a military family in Roman Britain in this collection of six stories

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Historical, Young Adult, Childrens, British Literature

149 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

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

[Dan Lutts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Londinium, 61 AD. Thirteen-year-old Lucius Calpurnius, a wine merchant’s son, yearns to join the Eagles (the Roman legions) and become a centurion like his friend Centurion Gavrus. But his dad and mom are against it. Taking over the family business is an honorable profession. Lucius finally gets his wish when Queen Boudicca attacks and sacks the city. Years later, Lucius – now a battle-hardened centurion – receives a Distinguished Conduct bracelet that bears an image resembling the capricorn on the seal his father used to stamp the jugs of wine he sold.

Thus begins the stories of six of the Lucius Calpurniuses who followed the Eagles and the journey of the Capricorn Bracelet, which is passed down generation after generation for almost three hundred years, from one Lucius Calpurnius to the next. The focus is mainly on the daily goings-on along Hadrian’s Wall in Roman-occupied Britain. The stories also trace the decline of Roman power, ending with the Saxon invasions. Plus, they show how the Romans intermarried with native women, gradually turning their families from mainly Roman to all native.

This delightful book – don’t expect a lot of battles and blood – actually began as twenty-minute scripts author Rosemary Sutcliff wrote for BBC Radio’s Stories from Scottish History program from 1947 to 1972. Later she revised the scripts into short stories, which she published as The Capricorn Bracelet.

To be truthful, I haven’t read a book of short stories in years. And even though Sutcliff is one of my favorite authors, I kept putting off reading his one. Now I’m glad I finally read it.

[Hazel West · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of short stories, each one just as good as the others. I'm always a fan of family sagas, and this one is a good short family saga with the connection of the Capricorn Bracelet through the centuries with, of course, Rosemary's usual wonderful writing style to enjoy. Good bits of family story along with military adventure. I'm hard pressed to pick my favorite story, but I think it lands between the one about the Dacian riders and the Frontier Scout one (because I love the Wolves). It really makes me wish she had written so many more stories, or even turned each one into a novel, but even as they were, they were very enjoyable.

[Matilda Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ever since Lucius Calpurnius, a Roman boy, was awarded the Capricorn Bracelet for his good work as a centurion, it's been passed down the male line of the Calpurnius family since when the Romans first invaded Britain to when they left. This book gives a brilliant insight into life in the Roman legions.

My favourite character was Lucius, who's mentioned in the first chapter of the book. His father wanted him to be a wine merchant, but he wanted to be a soldier and fight for Rome against Queen Boudicca of the Iceni. He experiences the fall of Londinium (London) and dies fighting.

The Roman Emperor Hadrian orders a wall to built in his name, fencing off Scotland. After his death, Lucius’ grandson, also called Lucius, helps to built forts along it using a special technique which includes curving the surface and creating drains on either side of the walkway.

Eventually the great-great-grandson of Lucius Calpurnius leaves Britain to fight in Rome against barbarian tribes.

Rosemary Sutcliff cleverly links these stories with the Capricorn Bracelet, which is handed down son to son through the Calpurnius family. In doing so, she manages to avoid the stories looking unrelated.

[Rebecca Radnor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sutcliff essentially doing in short story what she has done with some of her books, create a family with some sort of family talisman that is passed from generation to generation, and via the family members who now possess the item, tell the tale of Britain in that time. In this case, the talisman is a Roman Legionnaire's silver bracelet for meritorious conduct, which rather than being buried with him is passed to his son. The period covered begins with the generation that won the bracelet, and carries through to Magnus Maximus Emperor of the West, AD 387, and his failed attempt to go after Theodosius in Italy. The first story is placed in London at the time of Boudicca's attack (60 AD), when the Legionnaire was a boy, the next story is up at Hadrian's wall during its building, and the rest of the stories are at or near that wall.

The stories are enjoyable, and per usual for Sutcliff well written. She keeps the language basic and first person, so that I would say the stories are suitable for a middle school reader.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly simple selection of short stories, snapshots of different points in the history of Roman Britain through the eyes of various members of one family. There isn't the same depth and involvement as Sutcliff's full novels, but her mastery of atmosphere more than compensates, providing a vivid glimpse into a long-lost era, and most of the themes and motifs common in her work can be found here. And of course her writing is as poignant and elegiac as ever: by the end, I had a definite lump in my throat at the flying of the Eagles. This might be a good start for a younger reader looking to get into Sutcliff, and it's enjoyable light reading for the established Sutcliff fan as well.

[Alison C · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Capricorn Bracelet” is a collection of linked short stories telling the tale of Roman Britain from the rebellion of Boudicca in AD 61 to the withdrawal of the troops from the north in AD 383. The stories are told through the device of the capricorn bracelet that the patriarch of the Roman family is awarded for his bravery, which is then passed down through the generations of the same family. The stories are fairly violent (it was a very violent time, after all), but generally written for middle-school-aged children. Entertaining and a quick read; mildly recommended.

[Izilen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This feels somewhat like a condensed Dolphin Ring and it is very much in keeping with Sutcliff's interest in human connection through the fog of history and the changing ways of life in a particular place. It is full of that sweet melancholy that Sutcliff is so good at, of the petals-falling beauty of a thing that will not last. A lovely read.

[Beth Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six slice of life episodes from Roman British history originally written for radio broadcast. I hadn’t read them before and was happy to find them, even if they’re minor Sutcliff.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Rosemary Sutcliff's historical fiction, when I was younger. I read two copies of The Eagle of the Ninth to pieces. This book is also about Roman Britain, although it's more focused on the area around the wall, and is also less about big epic deeds, and more about ordinary people -- focusing on a single family through a period of a couple of hundred years. There's less excitement, I suppose, but there are fascinating little details about how Sutcliff imagines life to have been then -- realistic, so far as I can tell.

I liked it. It wasn't the kind of story to blow someone away, I think, but one to sit with quietly and absorb. There are lovely details in it, lovely moments, and small quick glimpses of lives...

My only argument with it is that the narrators, the six different narrators, don't sound very different. It's hard, I suppose, to differentiate, but it felt like one voice. Could be partly choice, keeping the family link clear, but it bugged me.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories about Romans. I thought this book was quite good, I would recommend it to people who like short classic books and like reading about the Romans.
This book was about a Roman family who pass down a Capricorn bracelet to there sons and daughters. This family are Roman and they have been in tribes called the eagles and the sea wolves which are both war tribes. The book is about there adventures, with the horse thieves and the the building of Hadrian's wall; the attack of the Saxons and the strange and wondrous knife.

[Maureen E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sutcliff fans probably remember the ring with the flawed emerald and dolphin from Lantern Bearers, Silver Branch, etc. Here she traces a similar history, except that the family heirloom is a bracelet with a capricorn device and the family is located around Hadrian’s wall. I would have liked a little more story on several of these, but they were nicely done. [Jan. 2010]

[SA · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's evident that this started as a radio play, but Sutcliff's skill doesn't suffer for the first person. I think, as it was designed to be read aloud rather than read in a book, that is probably how it really shined but even so I was engrossed through the passage of time. She is very capable at showing (rather than telling) how four hundred years or less completely changed Britain.

[Ariana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a compilation of short stories. The uniting factor is a Capricorn bracelet that gets handed down through the generations. It's an interesting read, since history folds down into each new story.

It's written by Rosemary Sutcliff, so you know it's got something going for it. :)

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting, short little book that gave me a brief overview of Britain under Rome's control. I didn't know anything about that time period, so I had to look up some of the places and people, but I learned a lot. It's also well written and very enjoyable!

[Candace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six episodes chronicle the lives of a family in Roman Britain over three hundred years. Candace read 5/08....interesting, but hard to get into because each chapter is a different era and different person.

[Doodles McC · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a young child I loved these six stories of Roman life. Set at the time of the Roman occupation of Britain, they follow the fortunes of one family over three hundred years. Good for young girls as well as boys.

[Saviour · Rating 5 out of 5]

a wonderful book. See my deatiled review on

http://swordandsandalkids.blogspot.com

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice story of friendship and loyalty

[Margareth8537 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of short stories-written for radio-linked by the theme of a Roman Capricorn bracelet

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read. Overall we liked it, but the end kind of felt... I don't know. Rushed? I'm not sorry we read it, but it wasn't my favorite.

[Robbie Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly super. Sutcliffe is a good writer.