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I love historical fiction, but I struggle to find books that feel authentic and are written well enough to satisfy me. I read and adored Patrick O'Brian's brilliant Aubrey and Maturin series over a period of about four years and for me they set the gold standard for historical novels. I've tried a few other popular and well-respected authors recently and have been disappointed by their inability to pull off the hard trick of making modern English dialogue sound historically authentic, or by clunky plotting, or the lack of dramatic action - or all of these. So it was a relief to rediscover the peerless Rosemary Sutcliff, whose career as a children's novelist spanned over forty years. I would suggest that the intensity of immersion in a particular period, the quality of her descriptive writing, and the way she handles plotting and action are superior to most current 'adult' historical novelists. Outcast is a case in point: taut, action-packed, brilliantly written and with a deep understanding of the Celtic and Roman world. What I love most in Sutcliff's writing is the way she relates the physicality of felt experience; few other writers are as good at describing the sound of a log settling in the ashes of an open fire, the glint of the light on the sea as seen from the land, or the feel of rain-sodden clothing in a wild landscape with no shelter. It's this, I think, that makes her novels feel so real, and so much of their time. This book is set in a period where the weather and the landscape played a much more important role in people's lives than today, and Rosemary Sutcliff is able to bring that to life very keenly.