Great Northern? Is the last book in Arthur Ransome’s 12-book long series (Swallows and Amazons).
As the cruise comes to an end, Dick discovers a pair of great northern divers nesting in the British Isles, something that has never been seen before. When the Ds, Amazons, Swallows and Captain Flint reach a harbour, Dick decides to check if what he saw were great northern divers with an expert on birds, who soon reveals his identity as an egg-collecter. The group head back to where the birds were sighted after apparently slipping away without the egg-collector noticing. However, they are followed and must distract natives and the poacher until Dick can get a photograph of the birds nesting to prove his scientific discovery. Will they succeed? Or will the poacher win?
This book features most of the main protagonists of the series: the Swallows (John, Susan, Titty and Roger), the Amazons (Nancy and Peggy), the Ds (Dick and Dorothea) and Captain Flint. The only ones missing are from Coot Club and The Big Six. However, these missing heroes are part of the Coot Club, a group that protects nesting birds and their eggs. Therefore, the main goal of these characters is the same as what the protagonists of Great Northern? are trying to do.
Dick and the egg collector both want to achieve the same goal of proving that great northern divers nest in Britain. However, the egg collector wants to do this by killing the birds and adding their eggs to his collection while Dick just wants to get a photograph without scaring the birds. This gives Great Northern? the classic theme of good vs evil.
In this novel, Arthur Ransome reveals that Great Northern? is set in the British Isles. However, it is possible to guess a more accurate location: bagpipes are mentioned, suggesting it takes place somewhere in Scotland. Just like all the other books in the Swallows and Amazons series, this final book takes place in our past, which was the author’s present.
This book is suitable for those at least 12 or older, who will understand that the main threat in this book is a serious real-life problem: an egg-collector attempts to locate a nest of rare birds in order to steal the eggs and kill the great northern divers. Furthermore, the egg-collector tries to pay Dick, John and Captain Flint lots of money to get them to reveal the location. Unfortunately, this is not a fictional problem so the readers must be old enough to understand that this is wrong and actually happens.