Part of Series
The Swallows, Amazons, and the Ds are all on a sailing cruise with Captain Flint when they spot a mysterious bird nesting on an island in a loch. Their curosity soon lands them all in tremendous danger. While exploring in the Outer Hebrides, the adventurers spot a mysterious bird nesting on an island in a loch. Could it be a great northern diver, never known to nest in the British Isles? They tell their discovery to a local expert who secretly collects birds’ eggs and stuffed skins of birds. The collector sets off with a gun―and the children set off to stop him. Friendship and resourcefulness, dangers and Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons series has stood the test of time. More than just great stories, each one celebrates independence and initiative with a colorful, large cast of characters―and children are the heroes. Great Northern? (originally published in 1947) is the twelfth and final completed title in the Swallows and Amazons series, books for children or grownups, anyone captivated by a world of adventure, exploration, and imagination.
Author
Arthur Michell Ransome (January 18, 1884 – June 3, 1967) was an English author and journalist. He was educated in Windermere and Rugby. In 1902, Ransome abandoned a chemistry degree to become a publisher's office boy in London. He used this precarious existence to practice writing, producing several minor works before Bohemia in London (1907), a study of London's artistic scene and his first significant book. An interest in folklore, together with a desire to escape an unhappy first marriage, led Ransome to St. Petersburg, where he was ideally placed to observe and report on the Russian Revolution. He knew many of the leading Bolsheviks, including Lenin, Radek, Trotsky and the latter's secretary, Evgenia Shvelpina. These contacts led to persistent but unproven accusations that he "spied" for both the Bolsheviks and Britain. Ransome married Evgenia and returned to England in 1924. Settling in the Lake District, he spent the late 1920s as a foreign correspondent and highly-respected angling columnist for the Manchester Guardian, before settling down to write Swallows and Amazons and its successors. Today Ransome is best known for his Swallows and Amazons series of novels, (1931 - 1947). All remain in print and have been widely translated. Arthur Ransome died in June 1967 and is buried at Rusland in the Lake District.
