‘Sometimes extraordinary things do happen to ordinary people. Little girls can find themselves becoming film stars overnight.’

In this book Sophie Neville tells the story of how, in 1973, she was cast as Titty alongside Virginia McKenna, Ronald Fraser and Suzanna Hamilton in the movie ‘Swallows & Amazons’. Made before the advent of digital technology, the child stars lived out Arthur Ransome’s epic adventure in the great outdoors, without even seeing a script.

Encouraged by her mother, Sophie Neville kept a diary about her time filming on location in the lakes and mountains of Cumbria. Bouncy and effervescent, extracts from her childhood diary are interspersed among her memories of the cast and crew as well as photographs, maps and newspaper articles, offering a child’s eye view of the making of the film from development to premiere – and the aftermath.

Table of Contents
The Cast and Crew of Swallows & Amazons
Introduction – Serendipity
1. Preparation for Filming
2. First Days on Film
3. On Wild Cat Island
4. The Amazons Attack
5. Away to Rio
6. Rain, Smoke and Dangerous Wild Animals
7. Robinson Crusoe and Man Friday
8. Days to Remember
9. In Houseboat Bay
10. Going to War
11. Last Days on the Lakes
12. Swallows in Egham
13. Studio Secrets
14. A Storm of Publicity
15. Reflections
16. A Journey Back in Time
17. Where Are They Now?
18. What Sophie Did Next
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Picture Credits

The Author

Sophie Neville is an award-winning author and a former President of The Arthur Ransome Society. A member of the Nancy Blackett Trust, she joined forces with Sail Ransome in 2010 to buy the original Swallow from the film. Nowadays she lives with her husband on the south coast of England, where she gives talks on the making of the film and how Arthur Ransome influenced her life.

Paperback: 252 pages
Publisher: Lutterworth Press (25th May 2017)
ISBN-13: 9780718894962
Dimensions: 156x234mm