PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Arthur Ransome was born in Leeds in 1884 and went to school at Rugby. 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 with his Russian wife where, in 1929, he wrote Swallows and Amazons. And so began a writing career which has produced some of the real children's treasures of all time. In 1936 he won the first ever Carnegie Medal for his book, Pigeon Post. Ransome died in 1967. He and his wife Evgenia lie buried in the churchyard of St Paul's Church, Rusland, in the southern Lake District.
A sequel to Coot Club. I like this group of stories less well than I do those concerned with the doings of the Swallows and Amazons. Ransome is not at his best when his characters - to stay in character - seem forced to murder the King's English. He knows his gentlefolk better, it seems. The story has plenty of pace and action, more adventure perhaps than the other quieter tales. Of course, the setting is coastal England (pre-war) and the story has to do with boats. The Coot Club members, the central six, constitute themselves a miniature Scotland Yard and solve a mystery. (Kirkus Reviews)
