- Find all the latest books, toys, games and DVDs from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in our Harry Potter store.
Secret Water (Swallows And Amazons)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Secret Water for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"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." -"TLS" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
"There is plenty of excitement, a little danger, a quality of thinking, planning and fun which is delightful and stimulating." -"TLS" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
A timeless classic, beautifully rejacketed. One of twelve Arthur Ransome titles reissued this month
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After the excitement of "We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea", Arthur Ransome's eighth story in the Swallows and Amazons series returns to more comfortable and comforting territory. Set very shortly after the children's ordeal at sea in the previous volume, "Secret Water" finds the Walker children "marooned" on an island in the tidal area of Hamford Water, Essex. Here they spend a week or so, camping and surveying the low-lying islands, tortuous channels and tidal flats, whilst also having to deal with the quandary of whether to make friends with (or wage war upon) the local savage tribesmen. Once, of course, the small matter of one of their number being taken for a human sacrifice has been resolved!
This story is something of an attempt to return to the simple style of tale that worked so well with both "Swallows and Amazons" and "Swallowdale": a tale of children building a world of their own creation while at the same time learning to deal successfully with the real world in which they find themselves. After some of the more exciting later volumes in the S&A series, though, some readers may find the results just a little flat.
As always, though, Ransome weaves his tale through the deftest handling of prose and most adults at least should find this tale as charming as any the others in the series. It is nice, too, to see that the young Bridget is now able to start participating in the activities of her siblings.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is the third book of the central trilogy of masterpieces by Arthur Ransome, following on from Pigeon Post and We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea. It contains the essence of Ransome's successful formula: believable situations where the characterisation and plot lines wonderfully create a magical yet realistic story. (Although Peter Duck and Missee Lee are enjoyable and read well as pure adventure books, I always felt that they suffered in comparison to the others because the situations were unlikely).
In Secret Water Ransome creates an inland tidal backwater where the Walkers and Blacketts explore and map uncharted territory, aided and abetted by native guides and savages. Once again, the situations are artfully described and any child (of any age!) who has ever enjoyed exploring new surroundings will be sucked into this world. The book is wonderfully illustrated with Ransome's characteristic line drawings and maps, which add to the pleasure.
These books describe a (possibly mythical) more innocent time, an age where communication was by operator phones and telegrams, where mass tourism hadn't reached all areas and where children could be left alone in safety. Despite this, children will recognise themselves in the characters and wish, as I still do, to be there sharing their adventures.
In Secret Water Ransome creates an inland tidal backwater where the Walkers and Blacketts explore and map uncharted territory, aided and abetted by native guides and savages. Once again, the situations are artfully described and any child (of any age!) who has ever enjoyed exploring new surroundings will be sucked into this world. The book is wonderfully illustrated with Ransome's characteristic line drawings and maps, which add to the pleasure.
These books describe a (possibly mythical) more innocent time, an age where communication was by operator phones and telegrams, where mass tourism hadn't reached all areas and where children could be left alone in safety. Despite this, children will recognise themselves in the characters and wish, as I still do, to be there sharing their adventures.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read a few Arthur Ransome books as a child, I was moved to read this one having recently visited the waters where it is set. The book is charming in the style of the earlier books in the canon - you might enjoy the charmingly dated dialogue of the children, the detail of the nautical terms and observations, and revisiting the characters. However be warned - nothing really happens, and although the tides may run strongly through the secret water, there is not much of a narrative current to sweep you through this tale. I did enjoy it, having been there last month, but otherwise this is one best read in the sun, by the water, with the gulls calling in the background.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The weakest of an excellent series
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. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. R. Johnson-Rollings
Perfect Ransome
Not be able to remember which ones I read as a child I am working my way through the whole collection. This was one that I hadn't read and was all that a S&A book should be. Read more
Published 8 months ago by pantodame
Not just for children
I'd read this as a child, but bought it to read again before taking my boat to Walton Backwaters where the story is set. Read more
Published 13 months ago by C. G. Beeson
Meeting old friends
It was great meeting some of my old Ransome friends again. Not only did he always write a good story, but there are always things to learn in his books, and I was never aware of... Read more
Published on 16 Jun 2009 by Dick Cullem
A pleasure for fans, not the best (sorry!)
Although Arthur Ransome's characters and scene setting / scenery continue to be strong in this novel, to me it is one of the weakest in the series. Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2007 by Mosschops
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
