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Swallows and Amazons

by Arthur Ransome

Interest age: 8+
Reading age: 9+

Published by Red Fox, 2001

  • Adventure
  • Classics

About this book

It's the summer holidays, and the Walker children - otherwise known as Captain John, Mate Susan, Able-Seaman Titty and Ship's Boy Roger - are excited to set sail on their boat Swallow and camp on Wild Cat Island. Exploring their new territory, camping in the open skies, swimming in the lake and fishing for their dinner would be adventure enough - but then they meet two fierce Amazon pirates who challenge them to a war.

Arthur Ransome's classic Swallows and Amazons stories begin with this first book, a delightful evocation of a wonderful summer of adventure, discovery and friendship. Inspired by the author's own real-life sailing adventures in the Lake District as a child, this enchanting story is accompanied by Ransome's simple but characterful black and white illustrations.

About the author

Arthur Michell Ransome was born in Leeds in 1884 and educated in Windermere and Rugby. His family spent their summers at Nibthwaite, to the south of Coniston Water. In 1902, Ransome abandoned a chemistry degree to become a publisher's office boy in London. 

An interest in folklore, together with a desire to escape an unhappy first marriage, led Ransome to St Petersburg, where he was ideally placed to observe and report on the Russian Revolution. He knew many of the leading Bolsheviks, including Lenin, Radek, Trotsky and the latter's secretary, Evgenia Shvelpina. Ransome married Evgenia and returned to England in 1924. Settling in the Lake District, he spent the late 1920s as a foreign correspondent and highly-respected angling columnist for the Manchester Guardian.

Today Ransome is best known for his Swallows and Amazons series of novels, (1931 – 1947). All remain in print and have been widely translated. Arthur Ransome died in June 1967 and is buried at Rusland in the Lake District.

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