Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on March 23, 2008 at 15:24:42 from 195.93.21.2 user ACB.
In Reply to: Ransome the Socialist posted by Duncan on March 23, 2008 at 14:08:12:
You make a very convincing case.
Might I just add that Ransome had one very good reason to drop his overt interest in left wing politics - his wife!
He was married to a Russian woman who, far from being a White emigre, had been Trotsky's secretary! He would surely have felt an overwhelming obligation to protect Evgenia both from the likes of the Special Branch and from unsympathetic members of the British middle classes.
His decision to pursue writing for children may also reflect his politics and the example of Edith Nesbit.
We are given to understand that Missee Lee is partly modelled on a lady pirate, but also partly on Soong Ching-Ling, whom he met, and whose Wikipedia entry, for those who don't know of her, may be found here: