Book #50: Coot Club by Arthur Ransome
Number of pages: 352
The fifth book in the Swallows and Amazons series was a completely blind read for me, as I have an old copy that does not contain a plot synopsis (I did not bother to check online).
When I read the previous installment, Winter Holiday, I said that I wanted to see more of the new characters, Dick and Dorothea Callum; this felt like a case of "be careful what you wish for", as they took central roles in this book, while there was no sign of any of the original characters, although there were brief mentions of Nancy and Roger.
I was annoyed at first, because I felt characters like Nancy, Roger and Titty were the best written of all, so this felt like a weird spin-off novel.
The story opens with Dick and Dorothea boarding a train bound for the Norfolk Broads, where they meet the other central character, Tom, who belongs to the titular Coot Club, a group of naturalists who protect the birds on the Broads.
The new setting does at least make this another book that feels very different from its predecessors.
Inevitably, Tom ends up playing a large part in Dick and Dorotheas' holiday, particularly when he gets on the wrong side of a group known as the "Hullabaloos", who appear to be potential troublemakers, particularly when he unhitches their boat from its mooring and allows it to drift away. Tom is promptly seen as an outlaw (he seemed almost like an eco-terrorist to me), and Dick and Dorothea spend most of the story trying to protect him from the Hullabaloos, who act as though he has a price on his head by apparently hunting them across the Broads. They even seem to constantly pop up in unexpected places, just as the main characters think they have escaped.
Despite my early misgivings about this book, I kept reading and I started to find it becoming more enjoyable towards the end, as it built up to an exciting, and unexpected climax. I intend to keep reading the series, although I am hoping that this book did not represent a decision to "retire" the original characters for good, and that they will appear in the next title.
Next book: God's Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts