Missee Lee
photograph of Jonathan Cape edition of Arthur Ransome's 1941 novel, Missee Lee
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| Author | Arthur Ransome |
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| Cover artist | Arthur Ransome |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Swallows and Amazons |
| Genre | Children's novels |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
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Publication date
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1941 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| ISBN | (David R. Godine, Publisher: paperback, 2001) |
| OCLC | 48144509 |
| LC Class | PZ7.R175 Mi 2001 |
| Preceded by | The Big Six |
| Followed by | The Picts And The Martyrs |
Missee Lee is the tenth book of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books, set in 1930s China. The Swallows and Amazons are on a round-the-world trip with Captain Flint aboard the schooner Wild Cat. After the Wild Cat sinks, they escape in the Swallow and Amazon, but are separated in a storm. Both dinghies eventually end up in the lair of the Three Island pirates, where they are held prisoner by the unusual Missee Lee, the leader of the Three Island pirates.
The book, published in 1941, is considered one of the metafictional books in the series, along with Peter Duck and perhaps Great Northern?.
Ransome visited China in 1926 and 1927, where he learned about Chinese life and culture. He also met, amongst others Soong Ching-ling, the wife of Sun Yat-sen. Ransome said that he based many of Missee Lee's characteristics on her, though there were others who contributed to the character.
The book opens with the Swallows, Amazons and Captain Flint in an unnamed port in the South China Sea, apparently the Hundredth Port of a round-the-world voyage aboard the Wild Cat, the small green schooner featured in Peter Duck. They are warned to stay away from the Chinese coast because of pirates.
On the next stage of their voyage, they encounter a dead calm. Their monkey, Gibber, causes a fire, which burns the Wild Cat to the waterline, causing her to sink. They all escape aboard the Swallow and Amazon, which are being used as ship's boats. However, the boats are separated in the night when a strong wind blows up. The crew of the Amazon, the Blackett sisters and their uncle, is picked up by a junk, which turns out to be a pirate vessel. The Swallows make their own way to shore, where they eventually meet the Amazons, who are being held by Taicoon Chang, one of the Taicoons who rule the Three Islands. Captain Flint is kept under much stricter guard by the Taicoon, who hopes to ransom him, as he claims to be the Lord Mayor of San Flancisco.
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Wikipedia