Swallows and Amazons

Swallows and Amazons is a truly delightful tale both as a film, and as a book. The book is the first in the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome.

This story follows the Walker children (John, Susan, Titty and Roger), who sail a borrowed dinghy named Swallow, and the Blackett children (Nancy and Peggy), who sail a dinghy named Amazon. The Walkers are staying at a farm near a lake during the school holidays and want to camp on an island in the lake; the Blacketts live in a house nearby. The children meet on the island which they call Wild Cat Island, and have a series of adventures, involving sailing, camping, fishing, exploration and piracy.

The story, set in 1930, includes a good deal of everyday Lakeland life from the farmers to charcoal burners working in the woods; canned meat, which the children fancifully refer to as pemmican , and ginger ale and lemonade, which they call grog, appear as regular food stuff for the campers; island life also allows for occasional references to the story of Robinson Crusoe. Captain Flint, the Blackett's uncle James Turner, appears in some ways to be modelled on Ransome himself.

Quotations

• "This is Wild Cat Island. We've been here years and years." - Peggy or Nancy Blackett, Swallows and Amazons
• "What shall we call the bay where we were today?" - Titty Walker, Swallows and Amazons
• "What about 'The Bay Where We Fished'?" - Roger Walker, Swallows and Amazons
• "No. Shark Bay - for Roger's great catch!" - Titty Walker, Swallows and Amazons
• "Where's Susan?" - John Walker, Swallows and Amazons
• "She's still asleep." - Titty Walker, Swallows and Amazons
• "No she's not... And she's going bathing!" - Susan Walker, Swallows and Amazons.