The novel by Richard Hughes (1900-1976) “A Strong Wind in Jamaica” (1929) is built on an adventurous plot, but everything is permeated with deep philosophical questions about the nature of good and evil, about the transience of many familiar and seemingly stable ideas. 19th century, Jamaica . English colonists send their young children to school in England, but soon a ship with preschoolers is attacked by pirates. Children and sea robbers go on a rather erratic voyage, and the adventure story acquires the features of a parenting novel. But the dark ending of the book is a complete surprise.