Book Review : Swallows and Amazons

Before selecting an edition of this book to read, try to find one that has illustrations by the author including a double-page drawing of the lake where the Swallows and Amazons sail. It really does help.

The book is set in the English Lake District. I think the actual lake illustrated is fictional but looks a lot like Coniston Water where Arthur Ransome spent holidays during his childhood, though the more direct inspiration for writing the book was teaching a friend’s children to sail in dinghies.

The Walker children (John, Susan, Titty, and Roger) are on holiday at Holly Howe farm. They sail a borrowed dinghy named Swallow. They meet two local girls, Nancy and Peggy Blackett, who sail a dinghy named Amazon and live at Beckfoot on the Amazon River. The two sets of children establish a rivalry. The Blacketts have an uncle, Jim, who is referred to as Captain Flint as he has a talking parrot. Uncle Jim lives on a houseboat on the lake and seems rather grumpy most of the time, largely because people play pranks on him. Uncle Jim thinks the Swallows are responsible when his houseboat is burgled, but the Amazons tell him he’s wrong.

Titty thinks the thieves left their stolen items on an island in the lake and both Swallows and Amazons sail to the island to find this ‘treasure’.