A High Wind in Jamaica (novel)

A High Wind in Jamaica

First edition
Author	Richard Hughes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Publisher	Chatto and Windus
Publication date	1929
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	283 pp

A High Wind in Jamaica is a 1929 novel by the Welsh writer Richard Hughes, which was made into a film of the same name in 1965. The book was initially titled The Innocent Voyage and published by Harper & Brothers in the spring of that year. Several months later Hughes renamed his novel in time for its British publication, and Harper followed suit. The original title retained some currency, as evidenced by Paul Osborn's 1943 stage adaptation. There have since been two radio adaptations (one written in 1950 by Jane Speed for NBC University Theater; the other in 2000 by Bryony Lavery for BBC Radio 4), with the title A High Wind in Jamaica.

The Bas-Thornton children (John, Emily, Edward, Rachel, and Laura) are raised on a plantation in Jamaica at an unspecified time after the emancipation of slaves in England (1833). It is a time of technological transformation, and sailing ships and steamers coexist on the high seas. A hurricane destroys their home, and the parents decide the children must leave the island to return to their original home in England. Accompanied by two creole children from Jamaica, Margaret and Harry Fernandez, they leave on the Clorinda, a merchant ship under the command of Captain Marpole. The Clorinda is seized by pirates shortly after leaving Jamaica.

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 Clorinda´s safe is kept. The ship is ransacked, and the children are brought aboard the pirate schooner for 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.