The Riddle: Illuminating the Story Behind the Riddle of the Sands by Maldwin Drummond

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is clearly a labour of love by someone who knows the sea and has followed Childers' wake. Getting into the meat of it, the author offers an extended summary of the story of The Riddle of the Sands then Childers' own analogous tour in 1897. Here he sometimes blends the movements of Childers' own Vixen with the fictional Dulcibella. After this he looks at Childers' development as an author and the launch of the book by which he is known.
Here things really get interesting. Childers was not the first to raise an invasion scare but he did so persuasively, presenting his story as though it were fact and at a moment when the main fear of attack was pivoting from France to Germany. Drummond ably places the book's impact in the political and military context of the day and draws out its possible effect on events.
There is also an interesting insight into Childers' later life. I had known, for example, that that he embraced the cause of Irish republicanism and was executed by the Free State but not that he served in coastal motor boats during WW1 - a job requiring excellent seamanship as well as almost insane courage.
All in all, a comprehensively researched and valuable addition to our understanding of a time when the world was slithering toward the great lights-out.



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