Description
One day in March, 1937, Ransome received in the mail an unsolicited manuscript for a novel somewhat like his own by two teenage girls, Hull and Whitlock, “The Far-Distant Oxus.” While he was not in the habit of doing so, he read it and liked it so much that he took it to his publisher, Jonathan Cape, saying it was “the best children’s book of 1937.” Cape published it in similar format to Ransome’s own novels for children, with illustrations by Whitlock.
The stories are about children from two families, and take place on a farm in Exmoor and the surrounding moors and open country as well as a small nearby town. Both families are what I would call upper middle class. Bridget, Anthony and Frances Hunterly have been sent to stay at the Exmoor farm of The Fradds, who rent out rooms to children as well as Exmoor ponies to ride where they will. The Hunterly’s parents are away in Sumatra (a common solution for such books). Peter and Jennifer Cleverton live in the next farm year round with their father, who works in London, and is therefore not around much, another familiar tactic for getting adults out of the way. They have their own ponies.
Soon after they arrive to begin their holiday stay at the Fradd farm, the Hunterley’s are challenged by a mysterious boy riding a spirited black pony to join him for an early morning adventure on the moors. Thus begins a friendship that the Clevertons soon join. Maurice’s background remains a mystery, something he prefers, and he, his pony Dragonfly, and black Labrador Ellita seem to be living rough on the moors for the summer. Maurice’s imagination has been captured by the Matthew Arnold poem “Sohrab and Rustum” about warriors in ancient Persia, and the children name all the landmarks in their vicinity after places and people in the poem, beginning with Oxus as the river that flows through it. The children build a rustic cabin for Maurice beside the “Oxus,” which becomes their headquarters and launching point for many adventures, including building a raft and riding on it all the way to the sea.
Description taken from Todds Blog.
First edition 1937, this version (eighth impression October 1943) printed under wartime conditions, therefore lower quality paper.
312 pages.
