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that the pirates, despite holding the children as hostages in an attempt to extort money from the shipâs captain, treated them with kindness and consideration. To research the historical background, he read as widely as he could on
Caribbean piracy in the nineteenth century. He was also able to draw on his motherâs experience of growing up in Jamaica; at this time, Hughes himself had never been there. Finally, having no children himself, he âborrowedâ other peopleâs in order to study child psychology: these included Charlotte Williams-Ellis (daughter of Hughesâ friend and editor, the writer
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a tiger. The Dutch captain does all he can to get Emily to free him but is unable to communicate with her. Finally seeing a knife he rolls towards it. Emily, injured and terrified, screams but no one hears. She pounces at the last second and stabs the captain several times. He soon dies. Margaret, oldest of the children, witnesses this event. When the crew returns to the ship, some of the pirates mistake
Margaret for the murderer and without ceremony throw her overboard, but she is rescued by other pirates heading back to the ship.
188:, Cuba) to sell the seized goods. Captain Jonsen tries unsuccessfully to convince a rich woman to take care of the children. During the night, José takes John, Edward, and Margaret ashore, and John accidentally falls to his death in a warehouse. He is immediately and deliberately forgotten by his own siblings. The pirate captain seems to be the last one to forget him.
289:, who wrote that the novel "has genius because it sees something that a million people have seen before, but sees it uniquely." Hughes' powers of description came in for particular acclaim. At the same time, however, there was some unease at Hughes' portrayal of the children and controversy about his understanding of child psychology, with critics such as
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Having made no further captures, the pirates quickly take the first ship they finally see, a Dutch vessel transporting some wild animals. The captain of this ship is tied up and left in the cabin with Emily. Everyone else on the pirate ship boards the Dutch vessel to watch a fight between a lion and
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The idea for the novel came in 1925, when a family friend introduced Hughes to an unpublished manuscript by one
Jeanette Calder. This was a record of her personal experiences in 1822, off the coast of Cuba, as one of a group of children on a brig captured by pirates. Hughes was struck by the fact
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The crew grows tired and scared of the children. Jonsen arranges for them to transfer to a passing steamer. Disguised as a
British merchant vessel, the captain claims that some pirates abandoned the children on the Cuban shore and that he then picked them up to bring them to England. Before sending
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Back in London, the children are reintegrated into their families. They seem completely unaffected by their traumatic experiences aboard the ship, apart from
Margaret who has lost her sanity. (It is hinted that she may also be pregnant.) Emily is only half aware of the crime she has committed. The
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While drunk, Captain Jonsen makes a sexual overture to Emily. She bites his hand before anything happens, but she is frightened by the look in Jonsen's eye as he reaches for her. The author gives no explicit details for her fright, just a veiled description from Emily's point of view. Emily later
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younger children have distorted and contradictory memories of the facts, and after unsuccessfully attempting to extract any information from them, the family solicitor decides that only Emily should testify at the trial against the pirate crew and then only to repeat a statement written by him.
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to get dinner. Captain
Marpole, thinking that under cover of darkness the children have been murdered, flees the scene, unknowingly abandoning the children to the pirates. Marpole writes a letter to Mr and Mrs Thornton informing them that their children have been murdered by the pirates.
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in 1965. Hughes' first novel, it was set in the late nineteenth century and followed a group of children captured by pirates on a voyage from
Jamaica. A critical success as well as a bestseller on its first publication in Britain, it was awarded the
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The pirates first pretend they need to seize the ship's cargo and will refund the price of the goods taken, but when the lie becomes obvious, they menace
Captain Marpole by threatening to shoot the children if he does not disclose where the
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Under the pressure of the courtroom, Emily breaks down and cries out that the Dutch captain died as she watched. She does not exactly say who performed the murder, but the trial's outcome is decided. The pirates are executed.
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Despite her fondness for
Captain Jonsen and the fact that she promised not to tell about what really happened, Emily quickly tells the truth to a stewardess. The pirate ship is pursued and seized by the British authorities.
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suffers an injury to her leg, in an accident caused by Rachel, and is confined to the captain's cabin. Meanwhile, Margaret, who has become alienated from the other children, becomes Otto's lover and moves into his cabin.
244:. Accepting it for publication, Leach wrote to Hughes, saying that he liked his âhigh wind in Jamaicaâ. Hughes was taken by the phrase, and thus âHigh Wind in Jamaicaâ became the title of the chapter published in
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as âa work of unusual merit and originalityâ. The book version, published by Chatto and Windus, appeared in
September 1929 under the same title, which was then used for most subsequent American editions as well.
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them on board the steamer, Otto instructs Emily not to disclose the truth about what has happened to them in the past months. He chooses Emily rather than Margaret, as the latter seems to have lost her sanity.
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in Jamaica at an unspecified time after the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire (1834). It is a time of technological transformation, and sailing ships and steamers coexist on the high seas. A
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The novel has since been described as "one of the classic novels of childhood and a completely original work." It is often given credit for influencing and paving the way for novels such as
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The children quickly become part of life aboard the pirate ship and treat it as their new home. They are treated with some indifference, though a few crew membersâJosĂ© the cook and Otto the
415:"Prizes For Authors." Times, 2 June 1931, p. 20. The Times Digital Archive, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS336143554/TTDA?u=bed_ttda&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=275d1226. Accessed 26 Jan. 2024.
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Once aboard the steamer, the children are delighted with the boat's luxury and the loving treatment by the passengers, who know of the story of the children told by Captain Marpole.
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destroys their home, and the parents decide the children must leave the island to return to their original home in England. Accompanied by two
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The book ends with Emily playing with her schoolmates. She is so similar to them that "only God", but no one else, could tell them apart.
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Hughes continued to work on the novel over the next three years. In 1928, he offered the first chapter to the editor of the magazine
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The complete novel was first published in the U. S. (where Hughes was living at the time) on March 13, 1929, under the title
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was received with enthusiasm on its initial British publication. It was praised by eminent writers and critics such as
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broadcast a one-hour version by Jane Speed in 1950, while Hughesâ own six-part serial appeared on the
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in August and September 1953. In 2000, the BBC produced a version in two parts, written by
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and J. E. S. Arrowsmith among those unconvinced. An extensive correspondence took place in
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s safe is kept. The ship is ransacked, and the children are brought aboard the pirate
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The Bas-Thornton children (John, Emily, Edward, Rachel, and Laura) are raised on a
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Tradition and Dream: The English and American Novel from the Twenties to Our Time
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Demonoid â Details for BBC R4: Richard Hughes' 'A High Wind In Jamaica'
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children from Jamaica, Margaret and Harry Fernandez, they leave on the
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149:, a merchant ship under the command of Captain Marpole. The
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515:(Montreal) (Tuesday, 16 November 1943), p. 3
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487:The Oxford Companion to English Literature
367:as Chavez. The cast also included a young
359:The novel was filmed in 1965, directed by
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429:. Poetry Wales Press. p. 41-43.
111:is a 1929 novel by the Welsh writer
222:Development and Publication History
395:. Andre Deutsch. p. 187-188.
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636:British novels adapted into films
531:(Tuesday, 23 October 1943), p. 24
391:Graves, Richard Perceval (1994).
314:was included as number 71 in the
316:Modern Library's 100 Best Novels
581:. Jonathan Cape. p. 293 .
157:shortly after leaving Jamaica.
606:Introduction by Francine Prose
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16:1929 novel by Richard Hughes
651:Novels set in the Caribbean
529:The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
526:"The Drama Desk: Addenda,'"
393:Richard Hughes: A Biography
259:. This was in the magazine
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485:Drabble, Margaret (1985).
646:Chatto & Windus books
474:. J. M. Dent. p. 58.
184:(in current-day province
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427:Richard Hughes, Novelist
122:Prix Femina Vie-Heureuse
115:, which was made into a
425:Poole, Richard (1987).
22:A High Wind in Jamaica
470:Allen, Walter (1964).
342:NBC University Theatre
338:A High Wind in Jamaica
312:A High Wind in Jamaica
279:A High Wind in Jamaica
257:A High Wind in Jamaica
108:A High Wind in Jamaica
616:2000 Radio adaptation
611:1950 Radio adaptation
577:Amis, Martin (2000).
361:Alexander Mackendrick
229:Amabel Williams-Ellis
117:film of the same name
641:Novels about pirates
555:, issue 1553, p. 34.
448:Poole (1987). p. 50.
439:Poole (1987). p. 47.
631:1929 British novels
328:The Innocent Voyage
253:The Innocent Voyage
242:Henry Goddard Leach
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274:Critical reception
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310:. In 1998,
182:Santa Lucia
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402:0233988432
375:References
175:chief mate
134:plantation
246:The Forum
237:The Forum
163:Clorinda'
139:high wind
124:in 1932.
90:Hardcover
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167:schooner
151:Clorinda
147:Clorinda
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155:pirates
88:Print (
52:English
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100:283 pp
39:Author
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