The Picts & the Martyrs: Or Not Welcome at All (Swallows and Amazons) [Paperback]

Arthur Ransome (Author)

Book Description

Series: Swallows and Amazons | Publication Date: April 1, 2003

Jibbooms and bobstays! Those two Blackett sisters are back at it again, and Nancy is right there in the thick of it. Their mother (doubtless suffering from exhaustion) has gone off sailing in the North Sea with Captain Flint on a rest cure, but she has allowed her two daughters to stay a fortnight at Beckfoot on the lakeshore with their trusty cook. She's also permitted their two old friends, Dick and Dorothea Callum, to come up for a visit. But when their redoubtable Great Aunt (aka G. A.) hears of their abandonment, she's horrified and off on the next train. The Amazons are dismayed; not only will their solo holiday be ruined but now they'll have to hide their two guests in the woods in an abandoned shepherd's cottage (where they'll be forced to live off the land like savages, ergo "The Picts") while they'll be required to dress up in white pinafores, practice the pianoforte, and recite reams of parlor poetry aloud (ergo "The Martyrs"). Not much stretch here; no one dares trifle with the G.A.



As usual with Ransome, the fun is gentle, the action nonstop, and the instructions on everything from tickling trout to setting anchors are precise and informed. Even the formidable maiden aunt proves to have virtues, not the least of which is her ability to say she's sorry.



This is the eleventh title in a beloved series that have endeared themselves to three generations of readers, books as credible today as when Ransome penned them on the shores of his beloved Lake District in the 1930s.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: David R Godine (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567922287
• ISBN-13: 978-1567922288
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,370,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Arthur Ransome was born in Leeds in 1884 and went to school at Rugby. He was in Russia in 1917, and witnessed the Revolution, which he reported for the Manchester Guardian.

After escaping to Scandinavia, he settled in the Lake District with his Russian wife where, in 1929, he wrote Swallows and Amazons. And so began a writing career which has produced some of the real children's treasures of all time. In 1936 he won the first ever Carnegie Medal for his book, Pigeon Post.

Ransome died in 1967. He and his wife Evgenia lie buried in the churchyard of St Paul's Church, Rusland, in the southern Lake District.



Photography (c) Arthur Ransome's Literary Executors & courtesy of the Brotherton Collection, Leeds University Library

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps my favorite in the series, April 28, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Picts & the Martyrs: Or Not Welcome at All (Swallows and Amazons) (Paperback)

It's hard to pick a favorite -- all the Swallows and Amazon books are good, and I'm sure everybody has their own favorite -- but I particularly like the character of the Great Aunt in this book. She is so...PROPER and so...INTIMIDATING, and the interactions the other characters have with her make for a good story. There is plenty of intrigue, plenty of almost-crisis, plenty of devious scheming by Nancy & crew to subvert the tyranny of the Great Aunt so they can achieve their own goals.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Possibly my favorite of the series, September 7, 2005

By 

R. Smith (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Picts & the Martyrs: Or Not Welcome at All (Swallows and Amazons) (Paperback)

When Dick and Dot arrive in the lake country they are expecting a pleasant visit with friends while learning how to sail their very own boat. But things never work out as planned, especially when Nancy has a hand in things -- first thing anyone knows she has Dick and Dot living in hiding from "the Great Aunt" and everybody else reluctantly in on the secret that must not be found out.

This is a charming book telling of a simpler time, yet it manages to be adventurous and exciting, too. Perfect for all ages, even my 4 year old enjoys listening to these novels.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazon Hospitality?, September 13, 2002

By 

Michael Weber "fairportfan" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Picts and The Martyrs: or, Not Welcome At All (Hardcover)

Very few things scare Amazon Pirate First Mate Peggie Blackett -- mostly thunder, but also the Great Aunt.

The only thing that scares Amazon Pirate Captain Nancy Blackett (well, "Ruth", properly, but Amazon Pirates are ruthless) is the Great Aunt.

Great Aunt Maria Turner, who raised Nancy & Peggie's widowed Mother and their Uncle Jim, is a formidable maiden lady of firm opinion, unbending will and repressive manner. "Having fun" is not on her list of summer tasks that well-brought-up children need to perform during the Summer Holidays. And dressing in comfortable shorts, knit shirts and red stocking caps is hardly suitable for Young Ladies in their early teens.

Not that this is particularly worrisome in the normal frame of things, because she lives Far Away.

But somehow Aunt Maria gets word that Ruth and Margaret are to be alone for a goodly part of the Summer Holidays as Uncle Jim (Captain Flint) takes their mother on a cruise for her health... and decides to visit Beckfoot for most of that period and make sure that Nancy and Peggie don't get into trouble.

Not that this, even so, would be worse than Unpleasant... except that their friends, Dick & Dorothea Callum ("the D's") are to be staying at Beckfoot... and it's a sure bet that the Great Aunt would visit a devastating scold on their Mother if she found out that they were having other guests their own age to stay, to be supervised only by Cook.

And so, quicker than you can say "Are you sure this isn't a Bad Idea?" Dick and Dorothea, city kids with limited experience at camping and fending for themselves, wind up ensconced for the length of the GA's visit in "the Dog's Home" -- a one-room stone forester's hut in the woods up above the lake.

And, since a number of people know that they're supposed to be at Beckfoot, and don't know it's a secret, and because Dick is supposed to be working with Captain Flint's friend on Captain FLint's houseboat on some chemical analysis of samples from a mine they discovered in the previous book and because Murphy's Law applies to everything in life, from there the story becomes more and more complex and full of hair's-breadth escapes and humourous adventures and close calls (the burglary at Beckfoot being particularly fun).

In the end, of course, all is (relatively) well, the GA gone, the D's have their own boat to race with "Swallow" and "Amazon" and the Swallows are due to arrive any day and most of the Summer still stretches ahead.

Like all the rest of the series, humourous adventure fiction for the YA age group. (And perhaps a bit younger; since they were mostly written for British juvenile audiences, and sixty to seventy years ago to boot, the "Swallows & Amazons" books may contain references and language that today's younger readers may have some problems with. OTOH, i first read "Swallows & Amazons" [the first book] at age eight or nine and i had no problem with it.)

Which is not to say that adults can't enjoy them -- many do. Buy them for a son, daughter, nephew or niece and give them a try before you pass them on; Ransome has a huge adult readership worldwide, even today.