Secret Water

Swallows and Amazons Series

By: Arthur Ransome

Narrated by: Allison Larkin

This book follows the adventures of the five Walker children after their parents leave them on a "desert island" with provisions for a long stay - and a blank map to fill in.

Listen to more in the Swallows and Amazons series.Public Domain (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

UK Suffolk coast

I am listening to this entire series again after having read them as a child - and I’m still a fan!! Alison Larkin’s narration is great with easily identifiable voices for all the characters. Arthur Ransome’s Secret Water is set on the Suffolk coast close to Pinmill where I spent time sailing as a child with my family. I love the lively imagination & outdoor survival smarts of the Swallows, Amazon’s and Eels. It reminds me of my childhood but is a long way from today’s kids lives. Great to hear the freedom & independence of the Secret Water ‘explorers’. some of the imagination IS reminiscent of the time when this book was written (1939) so don’t expect it to entirely match today’s beliefs. But a good read nonetheless. Start with the first book (Swallows & Amazons) to get the backstory.

Disappointing

From reviews I read I thought this book would be a "Boxcar Children" or "Nobody's Girl" type story, with the children living on their own for the summer and devising ways to survive. That was always my favorite type of story as a child. However, I was so disappointed with the book that I never finished it. The characters were flat, their adventures dull, too many descriptions of boring things. It just didn't satisfy.

Horribly Racist--Can Audble drop this one?

I like other books in this series--in fact, We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea is one of my favorites--but the racism in this book shocked me down to my toenails.

The children in the series love role-playing games, and usually "pretend" one game through a whole book. For example, in the first book, Swallows and Amazons, the pretend is pirates versus law-abiding sailors. They had a pirate flag to hoist, and talked "Shiver my timbers!" and generally had fun.

But in Secret Water, their ongoing pretend is white people (called Whites) versus people of color (called Savages). All the children unquestioningly play the white people (Whites) as patronizingly superior beings, and the people of color (Savages) as superstitious ignorant beings who practice cannibalism and human sacrifice. And the author presents all that with approval.

This is toxic. It needs to be pulled.