Posted by Michael Fine on August 08, 1998 at 18:52:58:
In Reply to: Re: Great Northern?-is it real or Peater Duck? posted by Roger Taylor on July 23, 1998 at 08:57:27:
Great Northern was the first of the Swallows and Amazons books I read. I found it in a used book shop in Jerusalem where I was then living. I was entirely captivated by the mood, tone, and setting of the book and perhaps as it came first, could never understand it's somewhat low standing in the series. (It was probably the first as well for my daughter, Rachel Klapman, who started this thread!) You can imagine my thrill when my wife and I sighted what looked like a Great Northern Diver in Finland on a recent driving tour of Scandinavia. For me, it is as "real" as the Lakeland and East Anglia settings and particularly moving as it is the last glimpse we have (though we somehow know, instinctively, that the adventures continue.