| Author | Arthur Ransome |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Swallows and Amazons |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
Publication date | 28 November 1939 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| ISBN | 978-1-56792-064-2 (David R. Godine, Publisher: paperback, 1996) |
| Preceded by | We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea |
| Followed by | The Big Six |
Secret Water is the eighth book in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books. It was published in 1939.
This book is set in and around Hamford Water in Essex, close to the resort town of Walton-on-the-Naze. It brings the Swallows and the Amazons together and introduces a new group of characters, the Eels and the Mastodon. Ransome sailed to Hamford Water, an area of salt marshes and low lying islands in his boat Nancy Blackett. He set the book in this tidal place which offered a new setting for his characters and chances to explore and map the area.