The Picts and the Martyrs (1943)
Synopsis and Further Information on The Picts and the Martyrs
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Synopsis It is the start of the summer holidays at Beckfoot. Captain Flint has taken Mrs Blackett on a sea voyage to help her convalesce from a severe attack of flu. In her absence, Mrs Blackett has invited Dick and Dorothea to come and stay with her daughters, overseen by the Beckfoot Cook. Plans have been laid for a quiet and civilised house party. Those plans are smashed when Nancy and Peggy's Great Aunt Maria writes to say that she has heard they are alone at Beckfoot. Angry with Mrs Blackett for her apparent neglect, the Great Aunt has announced she will arrive that day to take charge of the house - and Nancy and Peggy - until Mrs Blackett's return. The Amazons, the D's and Cook all realise that things will be far worse for Mrs Blackett if the Great Aunt discovers there are visitors staying at the house. They decide that the D's must become Picts, hiding in a hut in the woods above Beckfoot, whilst the Amazons become Martyrs, appeasing the Great Aunt in order to deflect her anger from their mother. At first sight the plan seems simple enough. But, as the days pass, it becomes increasingly complicated. Not only are the Postman and Doctor dragged in, but the D's new dinghy, Scarab, is due for delivery. Then there are the chemical experiments that Captain Flint's partner, Timothy, has promised to conduct during his absence, for which he needs equipment from the Beckfoot Study that only Dick can find. Nevertheless, despite the need to become burglars, the involvement of the police and having to work out how to skin and cook a rabbit, it seems as if the Amazons and D's will succeed in hiding the truth from the Great Aunt. Until, that is, and on the eve of her departure, she disappears without trace. With a hue and cry raised to find her, the D's know that the one thing they must do is avoid the Great Aunt themselves. But that is exactly what happens, as they are forced to transport her to a potentially embarrassing conclusion on the Beckfoot lawn. |
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For a more detailed synopsis of the Swallows and Amazons series, see Approaching Arthur Ransome by Peter Hunt. ISBN 0-224-03288-7. Jonathan Cape, 1991. | ||
| Further Information The Picts and the Martyrs is set a year after Pigeon Post, ie in 1932 or 1933. Ransome wrote it in the period 1941 - 2, by which time he and Evgenia had moved back to the Lake District, to live at The Heald, on the East shore of Coniston Water. It seems clear that the forest atmosphere of the finished book, with the D's living in the "Dog's Home" above Beckfoot, owes much to the woods surroundeing the Heald. Indeed, the original "Dog's Home" itself can be found in those woods. Meanwhile, Ransome kept his dinghy, Coch-y-bonddhu on Coniston during the period that he lived at The Heald. "Cochy" also appears in The Picts and the Martyrs - as the D's new dinghy, Scarab. |
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For a more detailed study of the background to the Swallows and Amazons Series, see Amazon Publication's The Best of Childhood, 2004. The Best of Childhood is available to current TARS Members from the Society Stall. | ||
| Missee Lee (1941) | Return to "Books" | Great Northern? (1947) |
Review of Swallows and Amazons
Gilbert Hackforth-Jones
Northern Region Inn-Formal lunch
