It wasn’t until I was nine years old on a ship returning from Australia that I was introduced to children’s books. Being the oldest in the children’s area, I had been so lonely I climbed over the gate and ran away.
When I was brought back, one of the women in charge took me over to a glass fronted cupboard filled with books, unlocked the door and handed me a Famous Five story by Enid Blyton. I read it in one night, and asked for another one the following day.
Fortunately when we arrived back in England our house was only a short walk away from a small library.
One day, hunting for another of her books a librarian asked if he could be of any help. I explained that I had read all the Famous Five books and all the Adventure and Mystery series.
‘Have you read anything by Arthur Ransome?’ he asked me.
I returned home with Swallows and Amazons.
Gradually I was pulled into a world where children were living outdoors and looking after themselves and if they could do it, then maybe I could too. The fact that they also came into contact with other adults made it more real. In Swallows and Amazons , I liked it when after an upsetting argument with the Amazon’s Uncle Jim, otherwise known as Captain Flint, they found a comic resolution.
Arthur Ransome also put in technical details showing children of varied ages sailing in different conditions on lakes and on the Norfolk broads. These stories were set in all weathers from the height of summer to the snowy depths of winter and they had drama and humour in them.
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| Photograph: PR |
My parents were wonderful people but there were terrible rows between them and at times I found the atmosphere at home unbearable.
The Arthur Ransome books gave me an alternative childhood and the tools to escape. Because I wanted to be able to do what the Swallows and Amazons could do this led me to go camping with the Guides and Scouts and I learnt how to put up a tent, lay a fire using dried leaves and twigs, and cook a meal over it.
At school, if I was ever bored in class I would draw maps of islands or detailed interior of boats or lists of provisions and equipment I would need when I went camping in the summer.
By the time I was in my teens I was walking up mountains and sleeping in extraordinary places in all weathers.
I had other escape routes too including hiding in a local theatre.
When my younger son was 13 years old, he asked me to read Swallows and Amazons to him while he made models. He liked it so much that I ended up reading all thirteen of Ransome’s books including the ones that I missed out on. This led my son to Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe and Coral Island.
Arthur Ransome has certainly influenced the content of my new book Impossible! My main character is a tomboy (like I used to be) and was born around the same time. She also likes his books, dreams of going camping and sailing and hides in a theatre, albeit a different theatre to the one I hid in, and for very different reasons.
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