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A High Wind in Jamaica
By Richard Hughes
New York Review Books Classics
Published in 1929
283 pages
Genre: Adventure
Reviewed by Mr. Thompson
Children are abducted by a band of pirates on the high seas. This novel follows their treacherous route back toward home and family, at the hands of bumbling and sometimes likeable pirates.
A group of British-born school children and their Jamaica-born friends are sent from the island via boat back to England, where their parents think life will be safer. They are promptly abducted by pirates and forced to endure the pirate life of plunder and prowess. During their time together, the two sides grow an attachment to one another, and the children soon develop some peculiar habits. Some grow to see the pirates as parent figures, some see themselves as pirates, while still others meet misfortune on the high seas.
Hughes writes an adventure story steeped in salt water, rum and the sunbaked deck of a Caribbean schooner. At times gory, the narrative focuses mostly on the human element, and its reaction to unfamiliar situations: the pirates-turned-nannies, and the schoolchildren-turned pirates. Author Hughes sews this tale together by using humour to point out the unlikely alliances that develop between child and pirate. The story is also an exploration of good and bad, and the shades of grey in between. The reader sees the soft side of the pirates, as well as the brutal cunning the children are capable of. The story keeps in constant motion, with rarely a break in the action.
4/5 paws
New York Review Books Classics
Published in 1929
283 pages
Genre: Adventure
Reviewed by Mr. Thompson
Children are abducted by a band of pirates on the high seas. This novel follows their treacherous route back toward home and family, at the hands of bumbling and sometimes likeable pirates.
A group of British-born school children and their Jamaica-born friends are sent from the island via boat back to England, where their parents think life will be safer. They are promptly abducted by pirates and forced to endure the pirate life of plunder and prowess. During their time together, the two sides grow an attachment to one another, and the children soon develop some peculiar habits. Some grow to see the pirates as parent figures, some see themselves as pirates, while still others meet misfortune on the high seas.
Hughes writes an adventure story steeped in salt water, rum and the sunbaked deck of a Caribbean schooner. At times gory, the narrative focuses mostly on the human element, and its reaction to unfamiliar situations: the pirates-turned-nannies, and the schoolchildren-turned pirates. Author Hughes sews this tale together by using humour to point out the unlikely alliances that develop between child and pirate. The story is also an exploration of good and bad, and the shades of grey in between. The reader sees the soft side of the pirates, as well as the brutal cunning the children are capable of. The story keeps in constant motion, with rarely a break in the action.
4/5 paws