Arthur Ransome
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Coots in the North and other stories
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Reviewed on 3rd February 2013
The beginnings of the thirteenth Swallows and Amazons novel is collected along with a few other short or incomplete works by Arthur Ransome, which makes this much more than just some disconnected scenes from a work in progress.
Great Northern?
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Reviewed on 26th September 2012
Great Northern?, the last complete story in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series, is a much better adventure than I remembered from childhood. The three groups of siblings are sailing the Sea Bear off the Scottish coast with Captain Flint (whether this is meant to be real or another story made up by the children is unclear, but personally I favour the former position) when Dick makes a remarkable discovery - but then must protect it from danger.
The Picts and the Martyrs
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Reviewed on 29th July 2012
The eleventh of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons books is the only one of the series to feature the Amazons without the Swallows, taking place early in the summer holidays. Dick and Dorothea are visiting the Amazon pirates to take delivery of a boat of their own, but an unscheduled visit from the Amazons' great-aunt disrupts their plans.
Missee Lee
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Reviewed on 3rd June 2012
I said in my review of Secret Water, an earlier book in the Swallows and Amazons series, that it was probably the weakest in the series, but now I'm not so sure. Missee Lee is written as a story that the children have made up about themselves visiting the far east and being captured by pirates. This structure, though only made explicit in a single line introduction, is similar to that of Peter Duck, yet I felt this story was less substantial.
The Big Six
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Reviewed on 6th April 2012
The Big Six is Arthur Ransome's foray into writing a crime story for his Swallows and Amazons series, although neither of those groups even gets a name check. Instead this story sees Dick and Dorothea return to the Norfolk Broads - setting of the earlier story Coot Club - to reunite with Tom Dudgeon and the Death and Glories, who find themselves accused of a series of misdemeanours.
Secret Water
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Reviewed on 21st February 2012
Secret Water is, in my opinion, the weakest of the Swallows and Amazons series. It follows on directly from 'We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea', but the plot is very different. The Swallows are 'marooned' on an island with a blank map, and tasked by their father with exploring the surrounding area and mapping it out.
We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea
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Reviewed on 7th January 2012
The only one of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons novels to feature solely the Swallows, 'We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea' sees the four siblings do just that, as bad weather accidentally washes them out of the harbour.