Description
Book SynopsisArthur Ransome was born in Leeds in 1884. He had an adventurous life - as a baby in he was carried by his father to the top of the Old Man of Coniston, a peak that is 2,276ft high! He went to Russia in 1913 to study folklore and in 1914, at the start of World War I he became a foreign correspondent for the
Daily News. In 1917 when the Russian Revolution began he became a journalist and was a special correspondent of the
Guardian. He played chess with Lenin and married Trotsky's personal secretary, Evgenia Petrovna Shelepina. On their return to England, he bought a cottage near Windermere in the Lake District and began writing children's stories. In a 1958 author's note, Ransome wrote: ''I have been often asked how I came to write
Swallows and Amazons. The answer is that it had its beginning long, long ago when, as children, my brother, my sisters and I spent most of our holidays on a farm at the south end of Coniston. We played in or on the lake or on the hills ab
Trade ReviewI read the entire series of Arthur Ransome's children's books as a child and thought they were absolutely fantastic. They were full of adventure, all sorts of exciting things happened and they were truly inspirational -- Ellen MacArthur
The book I remember most from childhood. I wanted to be with them on their escapist adventures with their boats and picnics and summer in beautiful Cumbria -- Miranda Hart * Daily Express *
You'll want to give this to your children as a window on a time when adventures came from swimming, fishing, camping and exploring rather than in an Xbox...The best line is when Nancy reveals that she is really called Ruth, but changed her name when she heard that pirates are ruthless * Independent *
A book that has stood the test of time... enchanting and escapist * Sunday Express *
My favourite was the first,
Swallows and Amazons, which starts with Roger, aged seven, tacking his way up a field. I knew nothing of halyards, forestays, strops or sheaves, but I was enchanted by what Swallows Roger, Susan, John and Titty, and Nancy and Peggy, the Amazons, got up to with them so cleverly and bravely.My own summer holidays were never quite as exciting, and I never stopped longing to meet them all -- Sue MacGregor * Daily Telegraph *
