Customer Reviews

Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint's Trunk (Swallows and Amazons Interest)

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Like many English boys (and girls... and not just English, come to think of it) growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, my favourite books were Arthur Ransome's wonderful stories about children messing about in boats in the Lake District, Norfolk Broads, and elsewhere. I read them all at least five times, from "Swallows & Amazon" to "Great Northern". I bought a paperback set for my children, and I think my son really got into them too. Now there's a new book (technically a new expanded edition) that gives the complete back-story: of Arthur Ransome, his life, and his boats; of the family whose children inspired the original stories; of the relationship between the geography of the books and the real world; and of visiting the places about which he wrote so many years ago. Nicely written, well illustrated with historic and contemporary photographs, and utterly fascinating.

Not surprisingly, I'm planning to re-read the stories all over again, with fresh eyes.

Hardyment does a wonderful job of dealing with the history and background of Ransome's Swallows & Amazons stories. She gently removes some of the veil from the family of children that Ransome used to partially create his characters, but leaves dedicated readers with most of their illusions still intact.

She also spent quite a bit of time traveling around the Lake Country trying to pin down the various locations from the stories, some which were easy and others still a mystery (like Swallowdale). This book will be a welcome addition to any Ransome fan's library.