“You see the one thing that mustn’t happen is for you to meet the old lady.”
The Picts and the Martyrs: or Not Welcome At All is the full title of the 11th and penultimate book in Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons series. However, the children’s classic often shortens its title to The Picts and the Martyrs.
As their uncle takes their mother for a holiday, Nancy and Peggy prepare to have their friends over as guests during the summer holiday. However, the great aunt (not knowing about the guests) believes Cook is not capable of taking care of her nieces and heads to Beckfoot. Desperate to keep Great Aunt Maria from unleashing a storm of anger on their mother, Nancy and Peggy decide to have their friends live hidden in the woods. However, they risk everything in their desperation to get Dick and Dorothea their own harbour and boat. Will they get caught? Can Nancy and Peggy keep Great Aunt Maria happy?
The great aunt first appeared in the second book (Swallowdale) but was only talked about in the speech of other characters. Now, nine books later, she makes her second appearance in The Picts and the Martyrs. During most of the book, the closest thing to reading the great aunt’s speech or reading about her actions was reading the letters she wrote. This made me more and more desperate to read about her outside of other characters’ speech. Finally, over half way through the book, I got what I had been desperate for: a whole chapter follows Great Aunt Maria and she has speech in later chapters as well.
One of the themes is sacrifice. Despite plans for them to live at Beckfoot, Dick and Dorothea live in the woods to avoid meeting the great aunt who would get angry if she found out Nancy and Peggy’s mother had invited guests to Beckfoot while on holiday. Another theme is sailing as the main characters take risks to get Dick and Dorothea their boat and harbour in order to sail, and a chapter focuses on their slightly disastrous first sail in their own boat.
Like all other books in the series, The Picts and the Martyrs takes place in our past and the author’s present. This book takes place around the lake from most of the series. The main locations this time are the woods near Beckfoot and the houseboat belonging to Nancy and Peggy’s uncle.
I would recommend this book to those at least 11 years old as younger readers may not appreciate it with the lack of humour and the descriptions of sailing. Are you looking for a book full of action and close calls? This could be for you!