Here is a real 'spot in time' of English culture. In this charming but exacting study, Lovelock brings vividly alive the world of Swallows and Amazons and the intriguing character of its creator. 'Lest we forget, what Rowling did for magicians in the noughties, Arthur Ransome did for sailing holidays in the 1930s and '40s. He is a member of the Arthur Ransome Society, and editor of its journal, 'Mixed Moss'. He was until recently a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Buckingham, where he became Dean of Arts and Languages and Pro Vice-Chancellor. Like the Swallows and Amazons, Julian Lovelock spent his childhood summer holidays afloat and has been messing about in boats ever since. Great Northern?: Not Quite a Grand Finale The Picts and the Martyrs: 'Imitation and Rehash'?ġ2. Missee Lee: Nancy and the Twenty-Two Gong Taicoonġ1. We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea: Confronting Realityġ0. Pigeon Post: The Unlikely Mystery of Squashy Hatħ. Peter Duck: Ransome and the Art of MetafictionĦ. Swallowdale: 'Things Will Go Onward the Same'ģ. Swallows and Amazons: Explorers, Pirates and SavagesĢ. Introduction: 'The Romantic Transfiguration of Fact'ġ. It will appeal to anyone who has enjoyed the world of 'Swallows and Amazons', and there is plenty here to challenge both the student and the Ransome enthusiast. Written with a lightness of touch and enlivened by Ransome's own illustrations, 'Swallows, Amazons and Coots' is both fresh and nostalgic.

Thus Lovelock demonstrates convincingly that, despite first appearances, the novels challenge as much as reinforce the pervading attitudes of their time. In the first critical book devoted wholly to the series, Julian Lovelock explores each novel in turn, offering an erudite assessment of Ransome's creative process and narrative technique, and highlighting his contradictory politics, his defence of rural England, and his reflections on colonialism and the place of women in society. Yet 'Swallows, Amazons and Coots' shows that, to be properly appreciated today, the novels must be read as products of their era, inextricably bound up with Ransome's life and times as he bore witness to the end of Empire and the dark days of the Second World War. In them, Ransome creates a world of escape so close to reality that it is utterly believable, a world in which things always turn out right in the end.

They changed the course of children's literature and have never been out of print since. The result was 'Swallows and Amazons' and eleven more wonderful books followed, spanning in publication the turbulent years from 1930 to 1947. In 1929, Arthur Ransome (1884–1967), a journalist and war correspondent who was on the books of MI6, turned his hand to writing adventure stories for children. Specifications: 234x156mm, 242pp, b&w illustrations

Great northern arthur ransome