The Picts and the Martyrs - Arthur Ransome

Lurking like wild Piets on the hillside, Dick and Dorothea could only feel sorry for the Martyrs down at Beckfoot.

The unwelcome and unexpected arrival of Nancy and Peggy’s dreadful Great Aunt throws into chaos every plan for a wonderful and adventurous holiday. The Amazons have to stay incarcerated at the farm, dress in tidy clothes, practise the piano and can’t go sailing at all! Dick and Dorothea are smuggled out to camp in a ruined hut and sworn to keep themselves hidden, while Captain Flint’s old friend Timothy has to stay put in the houseboat and pretend to be a stranger. But some of the plans for the holiday simply can’t wait for the Great Aunt to go away and there is always the danger that she might find out what is going on..