The Picts and the Martyrs they can be questioned, and Nancy manages to save the Great Aunt some embarrassment for which she gets praised in a letter to her mother. Ransome's wife Evgenia hated the book while it was being written, but his mother Edith persuaded him to publish it. Genia was often discouraging about his books while he was writing them. The Picts and the Martyrs The Picts and the Martyrs is the eleventh book in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books. It was published in 1943. This is the last completed book set in the Lake District and features the
Swallows and Amazons Forever! (father of Tom) and Frank Farland (father of the twins) plus in "Coot Club" five obnoxious adults in a motor cruiser, the "Margoletta" who are called the Hullabaloos by the children. Despite the title, Ramsome's other groups of children the Swallows and the Amazons do not appear. A Puffin paperback with the same title was published in 1983; it is a condensation of Coot Club (omitting the postscript) and The Big Six.(omittiing 7 chapters). It was reissued as a Red Fox paperback in 1993 with the title "Swallows and Amazons for Ever!" Swallows and Amazons Forever! Swallows and Amazons Forever!