"He makes a tale of adventure a handbook to adventure" Observer "There is plenty of excitement, a little danger, a quality of thinking, planning and fun which is delightful and stimulating" Times Literary Supplement "Out-and-out thriller" Daily Mail

Arthur Ransome was born in 1884. He was in Russia in 1917 and witnessed the Revolution, which he reported for the Manchester Guardian. After escaping to Scandinavia, he settled in the Lake District of England with his Russian wife where, in 1929, he wrote Swallows and Amazons. Thus began a writing career that has produced some of the best children s literature of all time."