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  • Published: 1 October 1989
  • ISBN: 9780224606387
  • Imprint: Jonathan Cape
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $49.99

Secret Water




The Swallows are marooned with just a little sailing boat for company - will they survive their chance to become true explorers?

'Youll start with a blank map, that doesnt do more than show roughly whats water and what isnt

When the Walker family’s holiday plans are ruined by Daddy having to work, the whole summer seems lost at sea. But a dull holiday for the children is too miserable to bear so their parents hatch a plan. The Swallows are to be marooned on an island with only a blank map and a little sailing dinghy. Their task? To explore and chart the area, avoid the endless mud and survive. And what do they discover? Well, they might not be as alone as they first thought…

Includes exclusive content: In the 'Backstory' you can find out about some real life explorers!

Vintage Children’s Classics is a twenty-first century classics list aimed at 8-12 year olds and the adults in their lives. Discover timeless favourites from Peter Pan and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to modern classics such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

  • Published: 1 October 1989
  • ISBN: 9780224606387
  • Imprint: Jonathan Cape
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $49.99

About the author

Arthur Ransome

Arthur Ransome was born in Leeds in 1884 and went to school at Rugby. He was in Russia in 1917, and witnessed the Revolution, which he reported for the Manchester Guardian.

After escaping to Scandinavia, he settled in the Lake District with his Russian wife where, in 1929, he wrote Swallows and Amazons. And so began a writing career which has produced some of the real children's treasures of all time. In 1936 he won the first ever Carnegie Medal for his book, Pigeon Post.

Ransome died in 1967. He and his wife Evgenia lie buried in the churchyard of St Paul's Church, Rusland, in the southern Lake District.

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