The first book in a series of 12 childrens books written by Arthur Ransome was Swallows and Amazons published in 1930, Swallowdale is the second and was published a year later in 1931.
Swallows and Amazons introduces us to the Walker family, Mother (not forgetting-Nurse and Baby Victoria) and her rather nice bunch of older adventurous children; John, Susan, Titty and Roger (the youngest aged 7). Their Father is away at sea in the navy. The family are enjoying a long Summer holiday in the Lake District lodging in a farmhouse on the shores of a beautiful lake
(Based I think on lake Coniston Water see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coniston_Water )
and the older children have asked and obtained permission from their father to sail a small sail boat on the lake and camp on an island they call 'Wildcat island' situated near the shore. The children camp, cook, sail and meet up with two adventurous Girls; Nancy and Peggy Blackett, who sail a boat called the Amazon and are adventurous pirates, a fun addition to the story is the Blackett girls Uncle Jim, he lives on a houseboat on the lake with a green parrot and a cannon and is ideal for the role of 'Captain Flint' in the Children's games . The story describes life camping, sailing, fishing and exploring. The book includes lots of sailing terms that I thought my audience would find hard going..but not a bit of it, they were enthralled and absorbed and as soon as we'd finished all 351 pages we had to start again until we could find Swallowdale.
Arthur Ransome wrote (of "Swallows and Amazons")
"I have often been asked how I came to write Swallows and Amazons The answer is that it had its beginning long, long ago when, as children, my brother, my sisters and I spent most of our holidays on a farm at the South end of Coniston. We played in or on the lake or on the hills above it finding Charcoal-burners whose smoke rose from the coppice woods along the shore. We adored the place. Coming to it ,we used to run down to the lake, dip our hands in a wish, as if we had just seen a new moon. Going away from it we were half drowned in tears. While away from it, as children and as grownups we dreamt about it. No matter where I was wandering about the world, I used to at night to look for the North Star and, in my mind's eye, could see the beloved skyline of great hills beneath it. Swallows and Amazons grew out of those old memories. I could not help writing it. It almost wrote itself. AR
Haverthwaite
May 19th, 1958 "
A good link to information on the series is here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallows_and_Amazons_(series)
Swallowdale
Swallowdale follows on from Swallows and Amazons and the next summers return to the lake and to 'Wildcat' island. The Swallows and Amazons were planning a joint camping trip and adventures but the unexpected arrival of the Blackett's Aunt (held in fear and Awe by the Blackett's Mother and their Uncle) causes modifications of plans, throw in a shipwreck, adventures when fog shrouds the lake, a secret valley and a cave- and more excitement is guaranteed.
From the back of our copy of the book are quotes from
The Times Literary Supplement...
"The story is crowded with useful hints on sailing and camping;is exciting,but not sensational,funny but never ludicrous; in fact it is a perfect book for children of all ages, and better reading for the rest of us than are most novels"
and The Boston Transcript...
"Anyone over seven and under seventy who loves the real country will enjoy the book,and it is an excellent read-aloud book for various ages."
These books are very enjoyable, of their time, it's true, but nevertheless surprisingly dateless reads. A good book on basic dinghy sailing was useful to me, but the listeners were quite content with a straight reading, and these books were ideal for this summer when we camped by the a nearby lake , although our children had to make do with a row boat and not a sailing dingy
Next book for us to read is Winter holiday for the Winter holidays....
Happy reading!
Hope this helps Nan :0)
Thank you so much! What a lovely writeup about the books. I'm going to save your review in my "book ideas" folder. Oh, I also read in The Coffin Trail that Ransome was married to Trotsky's secretary!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure Nan,
ReplyDeleteIsn't that amazing about his wife!
Val
I loved the Ransome books when I was a child and then enjoyed reading them again to my children. Have you read We Didn't Mean to go to Sea? We thought that was the most exciting of his books.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't reached that one yet... but we're getting there :0) , I missed this series when I was a child but my two (and self) are loving them!
ReplyDelete