A High Wind in Jamaica

Description

Published to great acclaim in 1929, this classic and bestselling tale of childhood did away with Victorian sentimental visions of childhood and paved the way for later works such as Golding's Lord of the Flies. Set against a tropical landscape and the ever-present sea, A High Wind in Jamaica tells the story of a family of English children who, on being sent by their parents back to England from Jamaica, fall into the hands of pirates. As this voyage of innocence continues, the events which unfold begin to take on a savagely detached and almost haunting quality.

Richard Hughes was born in 1900 and educated at Chaterhouse School and Oriel College, Oxford. A highly original and idiosyncratic writer, he wrote poems and plays as well as novels, but it is for these that he is best remembered, the most famous of which was his first, A High Wind in Jamaica, published in 1929. A remarkable man, he could number Masefield, Yeats, T.E. Lawrence, Robert Graves, Augustus John and Dylan Thomas amongst his friends and acquaintances. Married to the painter Frances Bazley in 1932, he died in 1976.

"I read Richard Hughes' A High Wind in Jamaica this year and felt breathless with shock and awe... Appallingly dark story...dreadfully funny." -- Meg Rosoff Independent "A thrillingly good book" -- Martin Amis "On one level it's an exciting adventure story with great storms and earthquakes, terrific animals, unruly children and some dubious pirates. What more, when young, could you want? But all this coexists with another narrative, darker and more sophisticated, complex and tragic. You can read this book over again and have read a different novel." -- Michael Holroyd Guardian "A hot draught of mad, primal fantasy and poetry" -- Rebecca West "A fascinating study in child psychology" New York Times