Oh Yngvildr, WHAT a perceptive remark with regard to 'The Mark of the Horse Lord'! No happy ending! Is not this one of the elements that sometimes distinguishes children's from adult fiction? At least it used to do so in the past.

'Sword at Sunset' was written as an adult novel during Rosemary's golden period. I think it has longueurs, and would have benefited from editorial advice, which she had at that time for her children's books in the form of the legendary Mabel George of OUP. I would class it as a long teenage novel, rather than a tight teenage novel, such as is 'The Mark of the Horse Lord'.

An author, or their agent or publisher, has the right to insist on seeing a translation before it goes to press, but this is rarely exercised unless the author is familiar with the language into which the translation is being made. I don't think that Rosemary had German.

The Ninth Legion. It is generally believed that it was not destroyed in Britain, but was transferred to Germany, then to Judaea, and possibly finally to Lower Armenia. It may have been destroyed, however, in Judaea. Certainly it ceased to exist at some point.

I don't think that Rosemary would have gone ahead with 'The Eagle of the Ninth' unless at that time she believed that her interpretation of the situation was based on truth. In a note to her late novel, 'Frontier Wolf' (1980), she explains that she had put the idea aside originally because archaeologists stated that there was no trace of military occupation at the time she needed it.

'But 25 years ago, when "The Eagle of the Ninth" was just published and it was too late to do anything about it, I found to my horror that there was no trace of any Roman military occupation at Exeter. And now, 25 years later, traces of the 2nd legion are being dug up all over the city! So maybe in 25 years' time they will be digging up traces of the 3rd Ordo, Frontier Wolves, all over Cramond!'

I think, Heraklia and other fans of RS, that you may continue to believe in Rosemary's interpretation.