Swallows and Amazons Swallows and Amazons Swallows and Amazons is the first book in the "Swallows and Amazons" series by English author Arthur Ransome; it was first published in 1930, with the action taking place in the summer of 1929 in the Lake District. The book introduces central protagonists John, Susan, Titty and Roger Walker (Swallows) and their mother and baby sister (Bridget), as well as Nancy and Peggy Blackett (Amazons) and their uncle Jim, commonly referred to as Captain Flint. At the time, Ransome had been working as a journalist with the "Manchester Guardian", but decided to become a full-time author rather
Swallows and Amazons series discussion and theorising about precise relationships. This contributes strongly to the series' air of authenticity. The first book, "Swallows and Amazons", and four sequels — "Swallowdale", "Winter Holiday," "Pigeon Post" and "The Picts and the Martyrs" — are set in and around an unnamed lake in the English Lake District. Most of the unfinished "Coots in the North" would also have been set on the lake had Ransome completed it before his death. The lake and the surrounding fells are based on an amalgam of Windermere and Coniston Water, places where Ransome spent much of his childhood and later life.