This novel by Richard Hughes is a great and unsettling adventure story involving seven kids from two families living in Jamaica as colonialists. From the summaries it’s easy to reach the conclusion that this is some kind of YA story. It is decidedly not that. Five of these kids are the children of an English couple there shortly after the British empire emancipation of slaves in 1834. The plantation system with its mansions and slave quarters is still evident, but in a state of ongoing decay. Big things are going on here. First there is an earthquake and then there is a hurricane. The descriptions are vivid and unique, playing to Hughes’s strengths as a writer. The parents decide Jamaica is no safe place for children. They pack off their five, along with two from another family, sending them back to England. The ship, however, is attacked by pirates, who take the children. It’s a decision they soon regret as the kids take over the ship for playing purposes. They are so young they don’t understand their danger, which is real, as a few surprising and even shocking incidents demonstrate. Part of me was surprised the pirates didn’t just throw the kids off the boat, but on another level I can buy it. Even pirates must blanch at killing children. I admit the general premise sounds like it could work as a Disney fantasy type of feel-good movie. But much of what is going on here—by suggestion as well as direct revelation—is not even PG-13 but full on very close to R. The two oldest in the family of five are the main characters. They are about 12 and 9. The tale is great, not a bit sentimental, and Hughes’s writing is impeccable. The descriptions may be his strong suit, but the pacing is just as good—the story never stops plowing relentlessly forward. And it’s full of things you just can’t expect, though they make perfect sense as they go down and wrench the story in new directions. A novel like this is the reason I’m willing to go through the Modern Library’s arguably predictable list of the best novels of the 20th century. I’d heard of this one before, and heard the fulsome praise too, but was inclined to discount it. Don’t make my mistake. Put
A High Wind in Jamaica high on your list to read.
In case the library is closed due to pandemic, which is over.
