Great Northern?
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Typical cover art depicting a montage of Arthur Ransome's own illustrations from the book | |
| Author | Arthur Ransome |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Arthur Ransome |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Swallows and Amazons series |
| Genre | Children's books |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
Publication date | 1947 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 1-56792-259-7 (David R. Godine, Publisher: paperback, 2009) |
| OCLC | 54026728 |
| Preceded by | The Picts And The Martyrs |
| Followed by | Coots in the North |
Great Northern? is the twelfth and final completed book of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books. It was published in 1947. In this book, the three families of major characters in the series, the Swallows (the Walker family), the Amazons (the Blackett sisters) and the Ds (the two Callums), are all reunited in a book for the first time since Pigeon Post. This book is set in the Outer Hebrides and the two familiar Ransome themes of sailing and ornithology come to the fore.
Sources
For this story, Ransome was inspired by a fan, Myles North, an avid birdwatcher who wrote a letter to Ransome which supplied a detailed outline of much of the basic plot.[1] He also supplied the famous phrase "What's hit's history: what's missed's mystery". Ransome also made a visit to Lewis in the Outer Hebrides for a fishing trip and to research the area as the setting for the book.
Plot summary
The Swallows, Amazons and Ds are all on a sailing cruise with Captain Flint in the Outer Hebrides. While the older members of the party clean the boat before returning her to the owner, the younger ones explore inland and a mysterious bird is seen nesting on an island in a loch. The question arises whether it is a Great Northern Diver, which has never been known to nest in the British Isles, or a Black-throated Diver.
Mr Jemmerling, the expert whom they consult, turns out to be a deadly enemy of the birds, as he collects birds eggs and stuffed skins of birds. Hence they try to protect the birds while gathering photographic evidence of their nesting. Complicating the matter is a misunderstanding with the local Scottish inhabitants who are mostly Gaelic speaking.
As the plot involves more excitement and violence than usual, with the egg-collector attempting to shoot the rare bird of the title, some have classified this book as one of the metafictional stories in the series: a fantasy tale made up by the children themselves.[1] The other two books generally agreed to be metafictional are Peter Duck and Missee Lee.