The author of Goodnight Mister Tom and Impossible! explains why the Swallows and Amazons creator Arthur Ransome gave her an alternative childhood and the tools to escape, pulling her into a world where children coped (and camped!) on their own
Although I could read before I went to school and I won the school reading prize at five years old, my early children’s stories came from the radio and watching films at a cinema on Saturday mornings in Australia. 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.
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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.
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