1942-1963
In the 1930s, The Wishing Chair and The Enchanted Wood are examples of books that Enid Blyton wrote episodically, sitting down and coming up with a different adventure each time, albeit with the same characters. However, by 1940, Enid could write continuously evolving narratives, both fluently and at speed.
The five-year diary that exists covering 1937 to 1940 (the fifth year has no entries) doesn't mention her books much, but there is an entry in November 1939 saying that she spent a day 'chaptering up' The Treasure Hunters. That means (I now realise) she went through the manuscript, which she'd typed quickly and accurately, titling the chapters, which would appear in issues of Sunny Stories, which she wrote and edited. 'Chaptering up' would also involve summarising the preceding action in a paragraph of introduction to each chapter in each new issue of the magazine.
There are also three entries in 1940 telling us that she was given a commission to write a book for Country Life in January, 1940. This book did not appear in Sunny Stories. She began it on April 1 and wrote 6000 words the first day. The book is 40,000 words long, so at the rate of 6000 words per day it may have taken her as little as seven days. She probably did it without taking a day off, as that is how she went on to describe her modus operandus in the 1950s. The typescript was delivered to the editor at Country Life on April 23, which gave her a couple of weeks to spare, but I don't think she would have needed that, just a day to read through the typescript and make the very occasional alteration. Nothing structural, the books went from her mind to the page with sublime ease.
That's roughly where I got to in the previous essay (written several years ago) which I've called 'The Interim Years'. Now I want to show what Enid did with the amazing raw talent that she had by this time under her complete control. I will use a yearly chronology to set out the pattern.
The following annual information, from 1941 to 1963, is largely taken from Barbara Stoney's book, Enid Blyton: The Biography (1974 and updated 1992). When a paperback was issued in 2006, the annual list of Enid Blyton books was greatly expanded to include all kinds of very short books, including single short stories that had appeared between covers. This essay takes an opposite approach and excludes anything that wasn't a full-length book. Books such as the Secret Seven series and the 'Family' series published by Lutterworth have been included in greyscale. But these are not full-length books and would have been written in two or three days at the most. I am trying to get at what impact Blyton's writing had on the balance of her life. She was always busy with her writing career, but she was not always busy with a project that required sustained imaginative effort as the full-length books did. The insight will tend to be cumulative, so you may have to stick with this for it to seem worthwhile, dear reader.
BOOK TITLE……MONTH OF PUBLICATION….PUBLISHER
1941
The Adventurous Four…….May……………..Newnes
The Secret Mountain………Sep……………..Blackwell
The Land of Far-Beyond….Oct………………Methuen
The Twins at St Clare's …...Nov…………….Methuen
Enid may have written a lot in 1941, but she 'only' wrote these four full-length books. Actually, The Adventurous Four (forerunner to the Famous Five) would have been written in a week in 1940, then serialised from late 1940 to February 1941, and only then published by Newnes as a stand-alone volume. Newnes being the publisher of Sunny Stories. However, as I have actual month of publication data for the years 1941 to 1963 and no diary entries setting out when the books were actually written, I am going to tabulate each year in the former way.
The Secret Mountain (like the Secret Island from 1938) is a forerunner of the Adventure series that begins in 1944. I will use green when listing both these series. Just as I will use red for Adventurous Four and the Famous Five. Not that this matters much, Adventurous Four books were only briefly forerunners to the Famous Five.
Four full weeks of immersion in her full-length stories. That would have given her plenty time to think about what was happening in Britain, which was at war with Germany. The war is alluded to in The Adventurous Four.
Actually, The Land of Far-Beyond is somewhat of an outlier in Blyton's output. Based on John Bunyan's 17th Century tale, A Pilgrim's Progress, it has a heavy allegorical meaning as children struggle to travel from the City of Turmoil to the City of Happiness. The story is episodic (a bit like The Enchanted Wood) and with Enid shoehorning in religion and morality from beginning to end, it may not have been written straight from subconscious to page as her other post-1940 books were. It kind of doesn't matter as Enid did not return to this style of book.
1942
Children of Willow Farm……Feb…………Country Life
Circus Days Again…………..Apr………….Newnes
Five on a Treasure Island…..Sep…………Hodder and Stoughton
Naughtiest Girl Again………..Sep………...Newnes
The O'Sullivan Twins………...Sep…………Methuen
Five full weeks of immersion in 1942. I've put the Famous Five book and the two school stories in distinctive colours as there is a significance that is going to build up over the years. Which I'll come back to.
In 1942, Gillian became 11 in July and Imogen became 7 in October. Their mother would have had them in mind when she began the Famous Five series. Though I imagine it was her own childhood she was exploring in the Naughtiest Girl and the Twins at St. Clare's books.
Circus Days Again was the third of three Galliano's Circus books. Although they are only partly episodic, partly a continuous narrative, they hark back to the 1930s. I think that the 'R' Mysteries, featuring Barney and his monkey, which we'll get to, are much more cohesive and forward-looking.
1943
More Adventures on Willow Farm….Feb …..Country Life
Summer Term at St Clare's………….Apr……Methuen
Five Go Adventuring Again…………July……H&S
The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage…Dec……Methuen
The Secret of Killimooin……………..Oct…….Blackwell
Smuggler Ben (Mary Pollock)……….Oct?…..Newnes
Secret of Cliff Castle (MP) …………Oct?……..Newnes
Mischief at St Rollo's (MP)………..Oct?……..Newnes
The Adventures of Scamp (MP)…….Oct?……..Newnes
Again, five weeks immersed in her major novels. The four books she wrote under the name of Mary Pollock were all shorter novellas. I imagine each of them took two or three days to write as Blyton was by this time capable of writing 10,000 or even 12,000 words in a day.
In July of 1942, Hugh Pollock left the family home, Green Hedges and wasn't seen again. This helped clear the way for the writing of the Mystery series, based in Bourne End where Enid and Hugh had raised their two children. This would be the setting for all fifteen of the Find-Outers series with PC Goon being a coded symbol (in my deeply researched opinion!) for the now despised Hugh.
Enid was 46 when she married Kenneth Darrell Waters in October 1943. And he was 51. But it's Enid's age we're concerned with. She had just entered her absolute prime as a novelist for children.
With the addition of a Find-Outers Mystery, she now had adventure series of a group of children (typically, two boys and two girls) when they were on holiday. Also, a series when they were at home from the Xmas, Easter and summer terms in Buckinghamshire. Also, when a group of children were at school during the three annual terms. In this last case, the cast were all girls. Why? Because girls and boys go to different boarding schools in England, or did at the time. Moreover, Enid had experienced an all-girls school. Also, her two daughters, age 12 and 8, would go to all-girls schools though that experience would basically be written about in the Malory Towers series. Anyway, for sure there is no Fatty or Larry or Dick or Pip in the St Clare's books.
Excluded from the above list is The Children's Life of Christ. She wrote the foreword to this 200-page book on January 1, 1943 and it was published on June 10th of that year. Its 59 chapters stick to the word of the New Testament, so it is not an imaginative work and wouldn't have been written in a week-long blast. But it does need to be borne in mind.
1944
The Second Form at St Clare's………..Mar………..Methuen
The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat…July ……….Methuen
The Boy Next Door………………………July……….Newnes
Claudine at St Clare's……………………Sep………Methuen
Five Run Away Together………………..Oct………..H&S
The Island of Adventure………………..Nov………..Macmillan
Six weeks of total immersion in her art practise. The Adventure series effectively takes over from the Secret series. She happens to write/publish two of the same school series in the same year, something that she would do with the Malory Towers books as well, as we'll see.
She probably spaced these intense writing efforts out, as she wouldn't be doing much else those particular weeks. She would give instructions to the cook about meals and her girls would be at school. I doubt if she would have set out to do any long books during a week of the school holidays as that wouldn't have been fair on Gillian and Imogen, but I'll keep an open mind. Kenneth would have been back from his work as a surgeon each evening. Enid would stop writing long enough to eat and chat with Kenneth before having an early night. She would try hard to start each book on Monday morning and finish it by Friday afternoon so that it wasn't hanging over her at the weekend. She did say in an interview with Peter McKellar in 1955 that if the book writing process was interrupted, even for a day, then she found it difficult or impossible to pick up the thread again. So she would have avoided that when she could.
Just remember that she is doing a lot of writing over and above the full length novels (Misters Meddle, Pinkwhistle and Twiddle, Amelia Jane, short stories by the score). But she could tuck all that away into single hours or mornings or days of quietness at Green Hedges. In such 'normal' weeks, the rest of the household didn't have to suffer Enid's total self-absorption for days on end.
I would suggest that the Mystery of the Disappearing Cat and The Boy Next Door share certain qualities. I get the impression that both were conceived at Green Hedges with the relationship with the neighbouring property there in mind. Fatty doesn't do much in Disappearing Cat, while Kit runs rings round the other kids in The Boy Next Door. Perhaps writing about wild Kit freed up Enid to get more from Fatty next time around.
Excluded from the above list is Tales from the Bible, published by Methuen in March of 1944. Its 31 chapters cover 160 pages. As Enid explains in the foreword, her main task was to choose from the Old Testament the stories that could be effectively presented to children. Again, not a book that would have been written in a week-long blast. A book that would have required much conscious decision-making.
1945
The Family at Red Roofs………….Jan………………Lutterworth
Fifth Formers at St Clare's………..May…………….Methuen
The Caravan Family…………………Jun………………Lutterworth
Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor………July……………..Newnes
Five Go To Smuggler's Top………..Oct……………..H&S
Hollow Tree House………………….Oct……………..Lutterworth
Mystery of the Secret Room………Oct……………..Methuen
Enid Blyton must have been the talk of the publishing world at this time. During the thirties she had been writing books, a lot of them, exclusively for Newnes, who Hugh had worked for. Since 1939 she'd struck deals with Country Life and Blackwell's and those had worked out well. So she no longer wanted to confine her output to a single publisher. In 1942, she'd negotiated to write Famous Five books for Hodder and Stoughton. In 1943 she'd struck a deal with Methuen to write six Mystery books. And in 1944 she had added MacMillan to her publishing empire. Apparently, she didn't take an advance for any book. This gave her a certain amount of freedom to write what she liked, when she liked. Though I don't think she had any difficulty keeping to publishers' schedules.
In 1945, Enid wrote three books for a new publisher, Lutterworth. Two were full-length stand-alone novels (more or less; Hollow Tree House isn't quite) and one novella. The former were to be considered as books for 8 to 11 year olds, as opposed to The Caravan Family which was written for younger kids, aged 6-8.
All in all, I'd say another six weeks of total absorption, spread amongst the twelve months of the year. This was the year she suffered a miscarriage, but she was able to absorb a few weeks of despair and recuperation into her schedule. After all, she could space out the six weeks of full-on writing as she wished. No problem for a creative force like Enid.
Meanwhile, as the year ended, Gillian was 14 and Imogen 10. Still serving as an inspiration to their mother in her various literary endeavours? I should think so.
1946
The Put-Em-Rights………………..Mar……………….Lutterworth
The Castle of Adventure…………Mar………………..Macmillan
First Term at Malory Towers…….Jul…………………Methuen
Mystery of Spiteful Letters………Sep………………..Methuen
Five Go Off in a Caravan…………Nov………………..H&S
Another excellent stand-alone novel for Lutterworth… MacMillan seemed to have changed their publishing schedule as Island of Adventure had been published in November, but from Castle on the books were published earlier in the year, so Enid may have held back in the writing of the second adventure as they wouldn't have wanted to publish Castle just four months after Island…A fourth book in the Mystery series, which was just getting into its stride… And a fifth book in the Famous Five series, every one a winner.
A little more has to be said about First Term at Malory Towers. Enid’s elder daughter had just turned 14 when she first went to Benenden School as a boarder in the autumn of 1945. Gillian wasn’t new to the boarding school experience as she’d attended Godstowe - just six miles from Green Hedges - since the autumn of 1942. All the same, it was to be a significant move if only because it inspired the glorious Malory Tower series of books, outdoor swimming and all.
First Term at Malory Towers came out in the summer of 1946, but we know it was written towards the end of 1945. How do we know this? Because Gillian’s diary mentions that Enid was writing the second Malory Towers book in January, 1946, with teenage Gillian reading it hot off the typewriter:
Friday, Jan 25: ‘I read as far as Mummy had got with second book of Malory Towers.’
Tuesday, Jan 29: ‘After tea Mummy finished Malory Towers, which I read.’
So Enid didn't always finish a book on a Friday. In this case, she may have almost finished it but needed a day, or even two days, of a new week to complete the story.
I say again, Enid's own diary from 1941 to 1962 doesn't survive, presumably destroyed by Kenneth, her second husband. So we only have a few precious pointers like this one.
1947
The Valley of Adventure……………..Mar……………Macmillan
Second Form at Malory Towers……Jun……………Methuen
Adventurous Four Again!……………Jul……………Newnes
House-at-the-Corner…………………Aug…………..Lutterworth
Five on Kirrin Island Again…………Oct……………H&S
Mystery of the Missing Necklace….Nov…………..Methuen
Another six weeks of total immersion. Flat out writing. Straight from under-mind to page via typewriter. Full flow and no mistakes. No rewriting to speak of. Wham, bam thank-you ma'am. (Apologies for that David Bowie reference. He came into my life a few long/short years after Enid did.)
Valley of Adventure is a tour de force…House-at-the-Corner is an ambitious, stand-alone story, part set at school and partly about a family…. Five on Kirrin Island Again is a tremendous finish to the set of six Famous Five books… And Mystery of the Missing Necklace has glorious chemistry between Fatty and Bets on the one hand, Fatty and Goon on the other.
Enid was still editing Sunny Stories for Newnes, and responsible for all of its content every fortnight. She needed a new serial for 1946 (Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor had been the previous one), So she opted to return to the Adventurous Four. She would have blitzed that out in one week and then chaptered it for Sunny Stories.
Enid did have a few weeks off in 1947, when Imogen was in hospital for months with infantile paralysis. But it seems from her published output in 1948 that she was able to compensate. I dare say that if you were committed to immerse yourself in writing, say, for six separate weeks in any one year. Then you could have as much as a couple of months tied up and still get your work done.
1948
The Saucy Jane family……………….Mar…………Lutterworth
Sea of Adventure…………………….May…………Macmillan
Come to the Circus!…………………Jul…………..Newnes
Five Go Off to Camp…………………Oct………….H&S
Third Year at Malory Towers……….Oct…………..Methuen
Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm…….Nov…………..Evans
Mystery of the Hidden House………Nov………….Methuen
Six full-length books again this year. But with the book for Lutterworth being a novella, she was able to write a book for Evans, who she had already been writing non-fiction for. In other words, six-and-a-half books, plus all the rest (short stories mostly). The Six Cousins book was dedicated to Imogen who, on the mend, had been encouraged to choose the names for all the horses (she loved horses) mentioned in the book.
Come to the Circus was the new serial for Newnes. You might think that was Enid going through the motions with a type of book she knew she could write easily. But this is a stand-alone book, about a shy child who has difficulties with life, gradually coming out of herself thanks to circus folk and circus animals. Sensitive and lucid, not to mention beautifully illustrated by Joyce Johnson.
Enid continued with the Famous Five, because there was a huge demand for them (which I'm sure the editor at Hodder and Stoughton would have begged her to take into account). And because she was managing her enormous workload with such aplomb, she decided she could indeed continue the series. After all she was still taking annual holidays in Swanage. Not just summer holidays now, but two or three times a year, she and the family would go to the Dorset coast. She would make the same decision the following year when it came to writing a seventh Mystery. Why should Fatty and the Find-Outers stop there, when things were just getting going with Fatty's disguises and his relationship with Ern? And when the editor at Methuen heard this news he or she must have dropped to their knees and given thanks to God.
A writer at the peak of her powers. But for how much longer?
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. A writer at the peak of her powers.
1949
The Rockingdown Mystery………….Mar…………..Collins
Mountain of Adventure………………May…………..Macmillan
Upper Fourth at Malory Towers…….May…………..Methuen
Five Get into Trouble…………………Oct……………H&S
The Secret Seven……………………..Nov……………Brockhampton
Mystery of the Pantomime Cat……..Nov……………Methuen
Those Dreadful Children…………….Nov……………Lutterworth
Another year, another publisher: Collins. And yet there is no book for Evans this year, so perhaps Enid Blyton had reached maximum capacity.
The Rockingdown Mystery is a very strong story, which would be followed by three more excellent tales (then two dull ones; Anita Bensoussane provides excellent reviews of all these books on the Enid Blyton Society website). The series is referred to as the 'R' mysteries, because they always begin with the letter R. They are also referred to as the Barney mysteries, Barney being a boy with a circus background whose mother has died and who is looking for his father. The only reason this series is not as popular as the Adventure, Find-Outers, and Famous Five stories, I reckon, is that Enid was late in starting them. Those other series had 6, 7 and 8 years (and so books) of a start.
Mountain of Adventure, Upper Fourth at Malory Towers, Five Get Into Trouble, Mystery of the Pantomime Cat. My God, Enid was kicking it out of the park in 1949! Plus an excellent stand-alone novel for Lutterworth. What's more, March 1949 was when she met the genius who would illustrate the Noddy books. Oh, and it was the year she embarked on the Secret Seven series, those adventure stories-cum-mysteries written for younger children.
Enid did a very sensible thing one day on the first of May, 1949. She organised a photo-shoot at Green Hedges. Kenneth would be there and so were her girls. Plus the family pets. In two of the locations there are four of her books surrounding her as props. Mystery of the Missing Necklace (1947), Island of Adventure (1944), The Second Holiday Book (1947) and House at the Corner (1947). 
She changed clothes as the day went on, and moved to the swing seat outside, so as to get a variety of different shots of herself in her domestic and working environment. 
The dog is Laddie, which Enid made use of as Loony in the 'R' series. Famous Five books include a dog, Timmy. Find-Outers books also include a dog, Buster. The Adventure series includes, Kiki, the parrot. While the 'R' Mysteries feature Loony, Snubby's dog, and Miranda, Barney's monkey. By having a photo with Laddie, Gillian and Imogen, she is effectively showing how she brings her actual life into her books. Write about what you know! is what Enid would have said. Of course, Gillian was 18 by the end of 1949, and Imogen was 14. They were in danger of outgrowing their mother's muse.
She may even have completely changed her wardrobe twice in the day, to guarantee her lots of images to choose from for publicity purposes, and to illustrate The Story of My Life, which came out in 1951. I include several of the pictures taken that landmark day in the essay titled 'MAY 1, 1949'. I should have called that essay 'Enid at Her Zenith'.
But would she have made the children change as well? Let's give her the benefit of the doubt and say that last pic was taken another day in 1949.
1950
The Rilloby Fair Mystery………..May……………..Collins
The Ship of Adventure…………..Jul………………Macmillan
Five Fall into Adventure…………Sep…………….H&S
In the Fifth at Malory Towers……Sep…………….Methuen
Six Cousins Again ………………..Oct……………..Evans
Mystery of the Invisible Thief…..Oct……………..Methuen
Secret Seven Adventure………..Nov……………..Brockhampton
Pole Star Family………………….Nov……………..Lutterworth
Seaside Family……………………Nov……………..Lutterworth
Enid still at the top of her game. I haven't read Six Cousins Again, but I imagine it will be another excellent family-focussed book with a background of horses. ("All the tired horses, in the sun. How they gonna get any riding done?")
The other five full-length books certainly are excellent.
Six weeks of solid writing and three more titles that would have needed concentration for two or three days each.
1951
The Queen Elizabeth Family………….Apr………….Lutterworth
The Buttercup Farm Family…………..May………….Lutterworth
Well Done Secret Seven………………Sep…………..Brockhampton
Five on a Hike Together……………….Sep………….H&S
Last Term at Malory Towers………….Sep…………..Methuen
Ring o' Bells Mystery………………….Oct…………..Collins
The Six Bad Boys………………….......Oct…………..Lutterworth
The Mystery of the Vanished Prince…Nov…………Methuen
Only five rather than six full-flow weeks. But then there were three weeks where novellas for younger children were being written.
Enid's elder daughter, Gillian, had left boarding school and gone off to St Andrew's University in September of 1949. It was March of 1950 when Enid wrote Last Term at Malory Towers. Gillian's diary entry for March 29, 1950, when she was back from St Andrew's for the Easter break, reads: 'Read last Malory Towers book - they all go off to St A's! Went to bed early as I was feeling tired.'
With Gillian finished with school, Enid never wrote another school book. Quite a break for her as the turquoise highlight colour can be found on at least one book per year all the way back to 1941. That's twelve years in a row. Which again emphasises how late the 'R' Mysteries came into being, with Ring o' Bells being just the third adventure.
The Six Bad Boys is a particularly well thought of stand-alone adventure, talking about how boys can be helped to overcome deficiencies in their early environments.
Mystery of the Vanished Prince is a particularly funny book. Fatty is bouncing off Ern: poetry is the winner and Goon the loser!
1952
Secret Seven on the Trail………………Jul……………Brockhampton
The Rubadub Mystery ………………..Sep…………..Collins
Five Have a Wonderful Time…………Sep ………….H&S
Circus of Adventure…………………..Oct…………...Macmillan
Mystery of the Strange Bundle……..Oct……………Methuen
Four excellent novels. But Enid hasn't written anything to replace the school book in her annual schedule. And nothing for Lutterworth or Evans this year. No drop off in quality but a reduction in her workload.
1953
Go Ahead Secret Seven……………….Sep……………Brockhampton
Five Go Down to the Sea……………Sep……………H&S
The Mystery of Holly Lane ………Oct……………Methuen
The Secret of Moon Castle…………..Nov……………Blackwell
No 'R' novel this year.
And a return to the Secret series for Blackwell (after an absence of ten years) rather than continuing with the well-established and brilliant Adventure series. I wonder what that was about?
I can't quite remember how good Five Go Down to the Sea is. But Mystery of Holly Lane is not one of my favourite Mysteries. Though it has its moments.
1954
Good Work Secret Seven………………….Jul……………..Brockhampton
The Children at Green Meadows……….Sep……………Lutterworth
Five Go to Mystery Moor…………………Jul…………….H&S
The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage……….Jul……………..Methuen
The Children at Green Meadows is a family story focussing on pets. The last family story written for Lutterworth.
I remember Five on Mystery Moor being a bit misty in more ways than one.
Though I have to say Tally-Ho Cottage is an excellent Find-Outers book. Set on the river that flows through Peterswood/ Bourne End. A poor poodle is the focus of some inventive humour.
Three weeks work. Doesn't sound much when there are 52 weeks in the year to play with. On the other hand, Enid was extremely busy at this time in her life. As Anita Bensoussane has reminded me: 'In 1954, Enid was made chairman of the committee for the Shaftesbury Society Children's Convalescent Home in Beaconsfield. She also wrote her Noddy pantomime, which was performed in the West End of London and elsewhere for years.'
Which was cause and which effect? Enid not writing as many full-length books because she was busy doing other things? Or Enid was doing so many other things that she didn't have time to sit down and right for a whole week at a stretch? I know what I think. Her books were her children (as she once said), and they were always given top priority.
1955
Secret Seven Win Through………….Jul ……………Brockhampton
Five Have Plenty of Fun……………Jul……………….H&S
River of Adventure…………………..Aug……………..Macmillan
Run-About's Holiday…………………Sep……………….Lutterworth
Two full-length books this time. Not five or six. My goodness, Enid has dropped from five novels a year to two novels at the rate of losing almost one per year! The engine is slowly-but-surely running out of steam. Or maybe not, because it was on January 28 of this year that Enid wrote to Peter McKellar saying this about her latest Adventure for Macmillan: 'I began it on Monday, and finished it this afternoon (Friday). It is 60,000 words long and flowed like its title (River of Adventure). All the same I know quite well that if I had had to miss even a day in the writing of it I might have had to give it up. Once the river is dammed anywhere, it won't flow again in that particular direction - which is why I must write a book at 'full flow'.
Enid wrote that book at 12,000 words per day. But the Adventure series were her longest books, and she perhaps never felt up to the challenge of doing another one. Also, it may not be a coincidence that the year that she did manage to write River of Adventure was the very first year she didn't manage to write a Mystery book. Fatty and co would have to wait until she felt up to it again. And don't tell me Methuen would have been happy with that! I mean they wouldn't have said anything, but obviously they would have wanted their usual Find-Outers feast. There was a huge readership hungry for their annual fix of Fatty.
Longer rests between supreme efforts. That's what I'm saying.
Oh, and Run-About's Holiday? Where did this tale of two children and a brownie come from? It's a throwback to the stories that Blyton wrote in the 1920s and 30s. With magic and fairyland and Brownie-Town. I wonder what the editor at Lutterworth who might have been expecting an addition to the Caravan/Queen Elizabeth Family sequence thought.
Anita tells me: 'In 1955, Enid wrote a Famous Five play, which was performed in the West End of London for two Christmas seasons. The same year, a Noddy puppet series was broadcast on ITV.'
In other words, she didn't spend much time at Green Hedges, crying over unwritten books.
1956
Three Cheers Secret Seven……..Jul………………..Brockhampton
The Rat-a-Tat Mystery…………..Jul……………….Collins
Five on a Secret Trail……………Jul………………H&S
Mystery of the Missing Man……Aug…………….Methuen
Enid was probably more comfortable writing the Secret Seven than anything longer by this stage. Certainly, she never missed out writing a Secret Seven book. I mean the Secret Seven held out longest of all.
Rat-a-Tat is the first poor 'R' Mystery. And Five on a Secret Trail isn't especially good. Mystery of the Missing Man is lively though, and much of the action takes place at the Trotteville house, which is a productive angle.
Over to Anita: 'In 1956, Enid wrote her adult play, Summer Storm (it was never performed), and she and Kenneth bought Manor Farm at Stourton Caundle.
1957
Secret Seven Mystery ……………….May………………Brockhampton
Five Go to Billycock Hill…………….Jul……………….H&S
Mystery of the Strange Messages…Aug…………….Methuen
It's clear what Enid's priorities are now that her powers are fading. A Secret Seven book, plus a Famous Five and a Find Outers. But how long can she keep even that up for? Billycock Hill is a poor book. Strange Messages is compelling, though. One classic book in a whole year? The writing is indeed on the wall.
Having said that, Enid says somewhere that she wrote Billycock Hill in four-and-a-half days, beginning it on Monday morning and finishing it by Friday lunchtime, allowing Enid and Kenneth to play golf in the afternoon. So she was still able to write at speed. But she needed much longer breaks between efforts. Was she conscious that she was winding down?
Actually, I can't find the source for that Billycock Hill info. However, in the memoir that George Greenfield (Enid's agent from 1953) wrote about his star client. There he tells us that Enid asked Greenfield not to come and see her the coming week because she had a deadline to write a Famous Five book by the week after, and she hadn't started it yet. Plus she wanted to finish it by Friday lunchtime so that she and Kenneth could play golf in the afternoon.
I don't suppose it helped that Kenneth retired in 1957, and would have been hanging around Green Hedges all day, distracting his wife from her work. Perhaps that's not fair of me. I think he would have been broadly supportive of his wife's practice, just as he was proud of her astonishing achievement.
1958
Puzzle for the Secret Seven……….Jun………………..Brockhampton
Five Get into a Fix ………………….Jul ……………….H&S
What can one say? Five Get into a Fix is no-one's favourite Famous Five book. And it's the only full length novel she wrote in the year.
Actually, 1957 was the year that Enid Blyton had a health problem. At first it was thought to be her heart, and Kenneth would seem to have let her believe this so that she took it easy. Plus Five on a Treasure Island was made into feature film, involving input and appearances from Enid. And her daughter, Gillian, got married in the autumn. All of which may have led to only one full-length book coming out in 1958.
Plus she was knackered. And there was something peculiar beginning to happen deep in her brain. The start of Alzheimer's Disease.
1959
Secret Seven Fireworks…………….Jun……………….Brockhampton
Ragamuffin Mystery……………….Jul ………………..Collins
The Mystery that Never Was……..Oct………………..Macmillan
Ragamuffin Mystery is a poor effort, according to Anita Bensoussane who is so perceptive about the qualities of the first four books in the 'R' series. And The Mystery that Never Was was rejected by Macmillan because of 'outdated perspectives' and a 'faint but unattractive touch of old-fashioned xenophobia'. The book was picked up by Collins and published in 1961. But I think it's best to place it here in the timeline.
I wonder why she submitted it to Macmillan, since they were used to getting the magnificent books that made up the Adventure series. Maybe Macmillan rejected the book out of pique.
1960
Good Old Secret Seven……………..Jul…………………Brockhampton
Five on Fnniston Farm……………Jul…………………..H&S
One OK Famous Five book in the year. And that's it?
1961
Shock for the Secret Seven………Jun………………...Brockhampton
Five go to Demon's Rock…………Jul …………………H&S
Mystery of Banshee Towers………Aug………………..Methuen
At least she had another go at a Mystery. But Banshee Towers isn't up to the standard of any of the other Find-Outer books. And Five Go to Demon's Rock is a lot duller than its title. (True also of Finniston Farm and Billycock Hill.)
1962
Look out secret seven…………….Jun…………………Brockhampton
Five have a Mystery to Solve…….Jul………………….H&S
The last Famous Five book. And the worst, most readers would say
1963
Fun for the Secret Seven………….Jul…………………Brockhampton
Five are Together Again…………Jul…………………H&S
No, I was wrong (perhaps I have the beginnings of dementia). This is the last and the worst Famous Five book!
Fun For the Secret Seven does a clever - or at least poignant - thing. In both the first chapter and the last (but nowhere else) it is claimed that the story is taking place in Peterswood (home of Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip and Bets). Ha! A deliberate mistake or accidental? I like to think it was Enid signing off with a joke.
Enid made a few entries in a surviving diary from 1963 to 1968. So I'm going to use that as an excuse to stop there and to save 1963-1968 for a new essay. In fact, one I wrote several years ago. But I will look through it to see if it needs to be added to.
But I need to summarise the present essay. Enid was up to full speed by 1943, the year of the first Find-Outers Mystery. She kept writing five or six novels a year from then until 1951. Nine magnificent years. In that time she produced the following books:
Nine Find-Outers Mysteries.
Nine Famous Five books.
Six Adventures
Six Malory Towers books
Six stand-alone Family books for Lutterworth
Four St. Clare books
Three 'R' Mysteries
Two Cousins books for Evans.
Two books for Newnes
And one or two more.
My advice to you, gentle reader, would be to make sure you're familiar with both the stand-alone Family books from these years, and the 'R' Mysteries. Both series are under-rated.
Oh my God! I have just realised that the implications of having written this essay is that I may be compelled to analyse the stand-alone Family books published by Lutterworth Press between 1943 and 1951.
It would really help me with this self-appointed assignment if someone would send me a spare copy of Hollow Tree House. Come on, fellow Enidites, you know it is in everyone's interests to PUT-IT-RIGHT.
Duncan McLaren
Fordyce
35 Reform Street
Blairgowrie
Perthshire
PH10 6AZ
