Swallows and Amazons is a series of children's books by English author Arthur Ransome, based on the title of the first book in the series. The 12 books involve adventures by groups of children and pre-teens during school vacations, mostly in England and Scotland, between the two world wars. Most stories involved small sailing boats.
The series remains popular today for its idyllic, yet often realistic, depiction of childhood and the interplay between youthful imagination and reality. It is part of the basis for a large tourist industry in the Lake District and Norfolk Broads areas of England, where many of the books takes place.
The series began with Swallows and Amazons, published in 1930. It told the story of the Walker children, who sail a dinghy named Swallow, and the Blacketts children, who sail a dinghy named Amazon. They meet on a fictional lake, where the Blacketts live and the Walkers are vacationing, and have a series of adventures that weave imaginative tales of pirates and exploration into everyday life on small English farms.
Major characters
The crew of the Swallow are siblings John, Susan, Titty, and Roger Walker. John, the oldest, is the captain and usually in charge. Susan is first mate, in charge of stores, cooking, and the general well-being of the crew. She often acts as the mother surrogate for the others. Titty, an able-seaman, is the imagination of the crew. She is usually the one who comes up with the stories of their adventures. Roger is the youngest; he was originally the ship's boy, but was promoted to able-seaman in later books. In later books, their youngest sister Bridget also appears.
The crew of the Amazon are the sisters Nancy and Peggy Blackett. Nancy - who dislikes her given name Ruth because pirates are supposed to be ruthless - is the captain, and a strong character who would probably be considered a tomboy. Peggy, real name Margaret, puts up a show of being as tough as Nancy, but often needs the encouragement of her sister to get through the more dangerous of their adventures.
A third major set of characters are brother and sister Dick and Dorothea Callum, who are introduced in the fourth book of the series, Winter Holiday. Dick and Dorothea are the intellectuals of the group, Dick in matters of science, Dorothea in the arts. The Swallows and Amazons are initially dubious of the qualities of the two, but their intelligence, inventiveness, and loyalty eventually win them the respect of the others. The Callums later acquire a dinghy of their own, the Scarab.
With a couple of exceptions, the exact ages of the characters are never established, although in the beginning they run from 7 years old (Roger) to about 12 or 14 (John and Nancy). All characters age as the series goes on; the final book occurs approximately four years after the first.
Settings
The original Swallows and Amazons and four later books in the series (plus the unfinished Coots in the North) are set in and around an unspecified lake in the English Lake District. The lake and the surrounding fells are an amalgam of Lake Windermere and Coniston Water, places where Ransome spent much of his childhood and later life. Many places in the books can be identified with real locations in the area.
Coot Club and The Big Six are set in an accurate representation of the Norfolk Broads, particularly the small village of Horning and its surrounding rivers and broads.
We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea and Secret Water are set in coastal Essex, with the former involving a voyage to Flushing, Netherlands and the latter the exploration of the islands of Hamford Water near Walton-on-the-Naze.
The books Peter Duck and Missee Lee involve voyages of the schooner Wildcat to the Caribbean and the South China Sea. The stories appear to be metafictional with repect to the rest of the series -- the former is described as being made-up by the Walkers and Blacketts on a wherry in the Broads during one winter.
The final complete book, Great Northern? is set in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland.
Books
- Swallows and Amazons (published 1930)
- Swallowdale (1931)
- Peter Duck (1932)
- Winter Holiday (1933)
- Coot Club (1934)
- Pigeon Post (1936)
- We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea (1937)
- Secret Water (1939)
- The Big Six (1940)
- Missee Lee (1941)
- The Picts And The Martyrs: Or Not Welcome At All (1943)
- Great Northern? (1947)
- Coots in the North (unfinished at the time of Ransome's 1967 death, published in unfinished form posthumously with some other short works)