A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes (1929) — novel #252

A High Wind in Jamaica—Not at all what I was expecting. BETTER! But it took me a bit to come round.

 

·      A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes

·      Alternate title: The Innocent Voyage

·      Novel

·      Published: 1929

·      Project Gutenberg (eBook, freebook)

·      Setting: Jamaica (briefly), and the high seas, mid to late 19th century.

 

Novel 22 of 50 of The Classics Club Challenge: Round IV

 

The Bas-Thornton children, John, Emily, Edward, Rachel, and Laura lead a blissful and nearly feral life in Jamaica until a storm, the “high wind” destroys their home. The family escapes mostly unscathed. Mrs. Thornton concludes…

 

But the danger which their beloved little ones had been through was not a thing to risk again. Heaven had warned them. The children must go.

 

So the Bas-Thornton children, along with the Fernandez children, Margaret and Harry, are packed off to the safety of England. John, Emily and Margaret are over 10 and provide minimal supervision of the 4 younger children, or lidlies as they call them. England may be safe, but the high seas? Not so much. Their ship, the Clorinda, is seized by pirates. While the pirates are examining their booty, the captain of the Clorinda seizes a brief opportunity to make escape, not realizing the children are all on the pirate ship. The children believe it is just a mid-point hand-off. It takes some time before they realize they are the wards of a band of Spanish pirates.

 

Somehow, I inferred this was a comical farce, and this was initially confirmed by the omniscient narrator’s tongue-in-cheek account.

 

Piracy had long since ceased to pay, and should have been scrapped years ago: but a vocational tradition will last on a long time after it has ceased to be economic, in a decadent form.

 

or

 

Possibly a case might be made out that children are not human either: but I should not accept it.

 

And although I liked it, thought it was great fun, It didn’t quite par with “classic” as it is sometimes called. As the story progressed, I was further confused first by one rather grim development, and then a second even worse. These events were grossly incongruent with the playful narration. I believe this was an intentional, and very affective, device of the author. It matched the children’s attitude. They did not recognize their peril, and thought it all high adventure. They were largely unsupervised and even indulged to some extent by the crew, who were at a loss for what to do with them.

 

Eventually, I understood. This is not a comic tale. It is a tale of innocence, love, human folly, and good intentions gone bad.

 

There were parts of this story that were rather far-fetched, and when I thought this was a comedy, that worked. However, once I realized the more somber message of this tale, those implausible moments, were, well, just implausible. But overall, still a very worthwhile read.

 

My rating 3 ½ out of 5 stars

 

 

Have you read High Wind in Jamaica? How did you feel?

 

One last quote by the narrator. There was a friendly pig on board for a time. As a piglet it liked to sleep on the children’s bellies. Before long it was too big for this and the positions reversed, still very much to the children’s liking.

 

One cannot wish for a more comfortable seat than an acquiescent pig.

 

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