The Far-Distant Oxus

As a kid, this was one of my very favorite books. I read and re-read it. I don't think I was aware how old it was at the time. It was published in 1937. It was written by two girls, ages 14 and 15, who submitted their manuscript to their favorite author, Arthur Ransome.

I've just finished reading his 'Swallows and Amazons,' which made me think of this book. Having now read both, it's very very clear how blatantly influenced by that book Hull and Whitlock were. This story is an homage to Ransome: a version of his story with their own ideal vacation, drawing on their own summer experiences.

Here, the young people are spending their holiday on the moors - with ponies for them to ride and explore. Inspired by the poetry they're read, they show more transpose an exotic imaginary landscape onto the English countryside, imbuing everything they see with magic.

Unlike in Ransome's book, there's a hint of innocent romance here (involving a tall, dark stranger, of course) - which, yes, I appreciated as a girl. But mostly it's memorable for its perfect description of how the love of reading can add richness to everything one experiences on a daily basis. And of course, there're the ponies.

There are two sequels to this book, which I've never had the opportunity to read. I'll give interlibrary loan a shot... show less

This was written and illustrated by two teenage girls in the 1930s. They sent their manuscript to Swallows & Amazons author Arthur Ransome, who helped them get it published. I remember reading it when I was about 11, and how much I enjoyed it. I had almost forgotten it and was delighted to find a reissued edition many years later. For some reason the children in it pretend to be Persian and worship Ahura Mazda, naming their Somerset surroundings after parts of Afghanistan and northern India. There's a lovely open-air feel to the book, and the children's spirited independence and imagination was quite stirring to me as a child. I never liked Arthur Ransome though! And I positively hated Enid Blyton.

Many years ago, I think in the Bowling Green (OH) Junior High School Library, I found a copy of Escape to the Oxus (a later book in this series, also apparently titled Escape to Persia) but it was not until much later that I got this copy of the first book. As a great admirer of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons books, I was very interested to learn that two girls (ages 14 and 15) had been inspired to write a similar story of English children playing at being Persian heroes instead of pirates, ridng horses the way the S& A group sailed boats. I have never completely read the series since I gather from reviews that at least one of the later ones includes some rather sadistic torture.

A lovely story of children running free during the holidays, with ponies and rafts.

Well written

The hard cover edition includes a foreward by Arthur Ransome telling how the school girl authors sent the book to him and he arranged for it to be published

Third impression, December 1937