Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome > Reviews > Innocence and adventure

Author's product rating:   

Would you listen to it again?
Story
Characters
Listenability

Advantages:	A lovely story about how childhood should be spent
Disadvantages:	None as far as I'm concerned

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This book, Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome, has been considered a children's classic by many people. I have loved this book, and the sequels to it, for as long as I can remember.
I first read it when I was about eight, and the book seems to have been written with the age range seven-to-twelve in mind. However, it is a lovely book to read at any age, I still enjoy it as much now as I did then.

The book is set in 1929, an age when children were more innocent than they are nowadays, and when being a child seemed to be a lot safer.
It centres around a family of children, John, Susan, Titty and Roger who are on holiday with their mother and younger sister at a farm in the Lake District. Having a father in the Navy and being around boats all their lives has given them a love of the water and the ability to handle a small sailing boat.
At the start of the story, the four have spotted an island in the lake, and have found a beautiful little sailing boat in the boathouse belonging to the farm. Plans are afoot to borrow the sailing boat and camp on the island, and all they are waiting for is a telegram from Father to say whether they can go or not.

John, the eldest of the four is to be Captain of the boat, Swallow. He is to be in charge and make sure that his crew obey him. Susan, the sensible one and the one most trusted by the adults to ensure that her younger siblings do what they are supposed to such as getting to bed on time, is to be Mate of their ship.
Titty and Roger are to be able-seaman and Ship's Boy. Both of them are still learning to sail. Titty is the dreamer of the group, often making up stories to herself and pretending that she is various things. Roger, age seven, is just glad to be able to go too and not be left behind.

The "adventures" referred to are not really what you'd think - there's nothing far-fetched or unbelievable. However, this does not mean the book is boring. The crew of the Swallow make their own adventures, helped along by their imagination and sense of excitement. When they land on their Island, they are explorers in a foreign land. The people at the farm where they row to get their milk are designated "natives", the charcoal-burners they discover working in a wood on the shores of the lake are "a savage tribe". The man living in the houseboat not far from the island becomes a retired pirate. In this way, the explorers settle in to life in camp on their own island. They explore the shores of the lake and sail to parts they have not yet visited, as if on unknown shores.

This would be enough for them, but a surprise is in store when another small sailing boat is spotted. They watch with interest, until the boat hoists a Jolly Roger (skull and crossbones) flag and it seems that there are real pirates on the lake.

Determined to discover what the pirates are planning, they sail after the boat, but fail to catch up with it. Returning to their island life, they then discover that the houseboat man has been telling local people that the four of them have been tampering with his houseboat. Upset by this, they decide that the best thing to do is to keep clear of the houseboat and keep watch for the pirates in the small boat.......... but the pirates have sneaked up to the island and taken control of their camp.

At a parley to discuss what is to be done now, the four Swallows meet Nancy and Peggy, sisters and Amazon Pirates (between mealtimes) and the owners of the sailing boat Amazon. What follows is a treaty of offence and defence between the Swallows and the Amazons, a practice war between them and a declaration of war by all six on the houseboat man, retired pirate, who they name Captain Flint.

Although the main theme running through this book is sailing, there are not too many terms used which would be completely meaningless to a child reader. Neither is an interest in sailing necessary to be able to enjoy the read. I would have liked my own childhood to be like this...... spent in a boat, allowed to camp on an island and cook over a real campfire, rowing over to the mainland farm in the morning to fetch the milk. Some people may say it sounds boring and not very adventurous at all, but the way Ransome writes the book you feel a current of excitement and are caught up in the imagination of the characters.

The characters themselves are a pleasure to read too. John's willingness to be responsible for all of them, Susan's determination to see that her younger siblings are doing nothing that would upset their mother, Titty's sheer enthusiasm for make-belive that dictates many of the Swallow's adventures and Roger's "youngest brother" cheekiness while still being a genuinely nice child.

Nancy's wildness and willingness to jump into any sort of adventure and Peggy's propensity to chatter and try to emulate her older sister are also explained with detail without ever becoming a narrative on the characters themselves - readers learn about the personalities from their actions rather than being explained directly and distracting from the story itself.

I hope that I've captured the heart of the book for you, and I hope that if you read and loved these books as a child then, like me, you'll pick them up again and remember why you loved them.

MadCat xx