Strong Winds series allusion to Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series as well as other works, particularly R.L. Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha". Cassandra Jardine, reviewing for "The Daily Telegraph", wrote ""The Salt-Stained Book"... is not just a homage to the Swallows and Amazons stories. Donny and Anna, Jones's fictional characters, live in the contemporary world, escaping social workers, rather than pirates. There's far more emotion than in Ransome's books" but "they share the same confident, risk-taking spirit..." Amanda Craig, reviewing "The Salt-stained Book" for "The Times" "...wasn't sure about the historical framing device that gives the novel
Swallows and Amazons (2016 film) based on Ransome's book, but the script incorporates many changes to the plot. It chronicles the story of the Walker children on their holiday in the Lake District in the summer of 1935. They want to camp on an island in the lake. When they get there in the boat "Swallow", they soon discover they are not alone. Two other children, the Blacketts, also known as the "Amazons", have set up camp there, and a battle for the island begins. But with Britain on the brink of war and a "secret agent" looking for the Blackett children's uncle, they have