# Sacred Country

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***Sacred Country*** is a novel by English author [Rose Tremain](/source/Rose_Tremain). It was published in 1992 by [Sinclair-Stevenson](/source/Sinclair-Stevenson)[1] and won both the [James Tait Black Memorial Prize](/source/James_Tait_Black_Memorial_Prize)[2] and [Prix Femina étranger](/source/Prix_Femina_%C3%A9tranger).[3] It has been compared to [Virginia Woolf](/source/Virginia_Woolf)'s *[Orlando](/source/Orlando:_A_Biography)*.[4]

## Plot introduction

"At the age of six, Mary Ward, the child of a poor farming family in [Suffolk](/source/Suffolk), has a revelation: she isn't Mary, she's a boy. So begins Mary's heroic struggle to [change gender](/source/Transgender), while around her others also strive to find a place of safety and fulfilment in a savage and confusing world".[5]

## Reception

Positive review extracts on the back cover of the 2002 [Vintage](/source/Vintage_Books) edition :

- "Hypnotic...Curiously beautiful and strikingly original" - *[Spectator](/source/The_Spectator)*
- "Brilliant...A strong, complex, unsentimental novel" - *[Times Literary Supplement](/source/Times_Literary_Supplement)*
- "Rose Tremain writes comedy that can break your heart...Funny absorbing and quite original. I've read nothing to touch it this year" - *[Literary Review](/source/Literary_Review)*

[Stephen Dobyns](/source/Stephen_Dobyns) writes for the *[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times)*, "a book that makes us feel good about the state of fiction in an uncertain market"[6]

Novelist [Lynn Freed](/source/Lynn_Freed) observes "The writing... is sheer delight. It is skilled, intelligent storytelling at its best".[7]

## Film adaptation

Filmmaker [Jan Dunn](/source/Jan_Dunn) has acquired the film rights to the novel and is adapting the screenplay.[8] Other sources state that Tremain herself is adapting it in three parts for television.[9]

## References

1. ["Fantastic Fiction"](https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/rose-tremain/sacred-country.htm). *fantasticfiction.com*. Retrieved 16 April 2022.

1. ["James Tait Black Prize winners"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110927024752/http://www.ed.ac.uk/about/people/tait-black/fiction). Archived from [the original](http://www.ed.ac.uk/about/people/tait-black/fiction) on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2022.

1. ["Prix Femina - Roman Etranger"](http://www.prix-litteraires.net/detail_prix_auteur.php?auteur=1949_Rose_Tremain) (in French). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160313205540/http://www.prix-litteraires.net/detail_prix_auteur.php?auteur=1949_Rose_Tremain) 13 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 April 2022.

1. Tremain, Rose (June 1995). [*Sacred Country | Book by Rose Tremain - Simon & Schuster*](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Sacred-Country/Rose-Tremain/9780671886097). Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780671886097. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20201202093904/https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Sacred-Country/Rose-Tremain/9780671886097) 2 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 April 2022.

1. Back cover of 2002 [Vintage](/source/Vintage_Books) edition

1. Dobyns, Stephen (11 April 1993). ["Muddling Through"](https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/05/23/nnp/tremain-country.html). *[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times)*. Retrieved 16 April 2022.

1. Parent Lesher, Linda (1 February 2000). *The Best Novels of the Nineties*. McFarland. p. 249. ISBN 0786407425.

1. ["Jan Dunn"](https://web.archive.org/web/20100622005109/http://unitedagents.co.uk/jan-dunn). *united agents*. Archived from [the original](http://unitedagents.co.uk/jan-dunn) on 22 June 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2022.

1. ["Music and Silence by Rose Tremain"](https://web.archive.org/web/20050226004624/http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/features/musicsilence/). *Randomhouse*. Archived from [the original](http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/features/musicsilence/) on 26 February 2005. Retrieved 16 April 2022.

## External links

- [Roots on the map](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/book-review--roots-on-the-map-sacred-country--rose-tremain-sinclairstevenson-1495-1550894.html) Review from *[The Independent](/source/The_Independent)* by [Natasha Walter](/source/Natasha_Walter)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sacred Country](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Country) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Country?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.