A High Wind in Jamaica

"This brilliant" sea adventure is "a powerful . . . meditation on . . . loyalty and betrayal, innocence and corruption, truth and deception" (Francine Prose, Elle)
After a hurricane destroys their Jamaican estate, the Bas-Thornton family send their children on a merchant ship back to England, hoping to restore them to a life of safety and comfort. But shortly after leaving Jamaica, the ship is seized by pirates and the children become unexpected cargo aboard a pirate vessel. Though the pirate captain is confounded as to what to do with his stowaways, the children acclimate easily to their new life, with tentative bonds forming between the crew and kids. Which only makes the betrayal that occurs once the children return to civilization all the more shocking.
 
A bestseller when it was originally published in 1929, A High Wind in Jamaica is a twentieth-century classic adventure story, hallowed for its keen insight into the psychology of children and its powerful examination of the nature of innocence.
 
"A surprisingly terrifying short novel about children kidnapped by pirates, elevated . . . by surprising moments of violence and introspection, as well as repeated flourishes of literary brilliance. Also, it's funny." —Emily Temple, Lit Hub, "20 Short Novels to Stay Up All Night Reading"
"A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes is like those books you used to read under the covers with a flashlight, only infinitely more delicious and macabre." —Andrew Sean Greer, All Things Considered, NPR