In the mid-Nineteenth Century, a family of five slightly wild children are on their way to England by boat, having been sent by their parents from Jamaica to attend school abroad. A violent hurricane destroyed the house of the British colonists, the Bas-Thorntons. The five, John, Emily, Edward, Rachel and baby Laura, are accompanied by the older, more reserved Fernandez children. The novel is a description of the adventures of these children, seen from the minds of children. While unable to understand the adult world, the children suddenly find themselves taken captive by pirates on the high seas, and the fun begins! However you imagine a story of pirates and children, be prepared to have your preconceptions shattered! The pirates themselves are not what you might expect, and humor and horror make for surprising bedfellows. This unsentimental story paves the way for the 1954 novel, Lord of the Flies.
Richard Hughes was born in Surrey at the turn of the century, in 1900, but had Welsh ancestry. He studied at Oxford and left to tour the world in search of adventure. He then settled in Wales in 1934 and there he remained until his death in 1976. This was his first novel and he wanted to destroy the myth of idyllic Victorian childhood and their adventures. It was originally published under the title, The Innocent Voyage.