I love the way Captain Flint sees his mission to find a monkey for the children as a refreshing change from tramping around London looking for a publisher for his book. That line: ‘I’ll go and look at monkeys by way of a change from publishers….’  A gem.

‘If you can get your mother to say you may have it,’ said Captain Flint. ‘I’ll see about it at once. There are monkeys nearer than Africa and I’m taking my book up to London now that I’ve got it again. I’ll go and look at monkeys by way of a change from publishers. You shall have your monkey next week.’

For more of a taster of these timeless classics, see our review here, or simply enjoy some splendid cover illustrations for the books.

Source: Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons (London: Vintage Books, 2015 (1930), p. 459