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Original poster

Has anyone ever read Malory towers?

558 replies

Orangejelly1 · 02/10/2022 00:04

I used to love the books as a child! I read them cover to cover so many times and my favourite character was Darrell. I recently found my old collection and re read parts of them just for old times sake and I was actually really disappointed to see, as an adult, how awful some of the popular characters were. I know it was a product of its time and a different era, but Darrell, Alicia and some of the most popular girls would be called nasty bullies nowadays. I also felt so sorry for Gwen, which surprised me because as a child rearing the books she was my least favourite character.

just wondered if anyone else re read the books and thought this too!

OP posts:
gatehouseoffleet · 03/10/2022 17:00

I also liked the Trebizon books. It was also interesting how the kids went off for adventures in the Malcolm Saville Lone Pine books and they were so young. Can you imagine 16 year olds being that grown up these days? And in the Adventurous Four Andy was 14 and allowed to take the kids off for a sailing trip - in wartime, as it turned out!

gatehouseoffleet · 03/10/2022 17:04

Flapjacker48 · 03/10/2022 10:42

@gatehouseoffleet The two adventurous four books are good. I think it is the only EB books in which she explicitly mentions WW2.

Do you have the riddle?

I think I will have to photograph the pages and upload them sometime. It was about hens and corn and talking about going to Cornwall.

gatehouseoffleet · 03/10/2022 17:06

I also loved the Sue Barton - Nurse books Yes I liked them too although she did the cliche thing of marrying a doctor...

AsAnyFuleKno · 03/10/2022 17:09

EB does seem to tone down the crushes in MT by comparison to St Clare's. In St Clare's, Alison has an intense crush in almost every book; Anne-Marie has one on Miss Willcox (until she sees through her) and Angela is the subject of the crushes of at least two first formers, Jane and Violet.

By contrast, in MT you have Mary-Lou's period of intensely admiring Darrell and then, other than that, only Gwen is 'silly' over anyone - but you don't get the sense it's properly intense crushes that Gwen has - Gwen is too self-obsessed to 'lose her heart' to anyone, and there's a strong element of liking people for what she thinks she can get out of them, rather than unqualified adoration.

KimberleyClark · 03/10/2022 17:14

Gwen is basically only interested in people if they’re beautiful, rich, titled or talented.

goldenbag · 03/10/2022 17:14

Yes, Alison is the one who loses her heart right, left and centre! It's proper limerance as well.

MarieIVanArkleStinks · 03/10/2022 17:15

On the subject of her affairs, I saw the movie 'Enid' with Helena Bonham Carter but missed any reference to her apparent bisexualIty or affair with a nanny, or maybe I forgot. In all those girls' boarding schools with nearly exclusive female staff I'd be surprised, though, if it didn't go on.

There are heavy hints around St Clare's' Alison. First she's devastated when her pretty US friend Sadie leaves and promptly forgets her, but it's her crush on Miss Quentin that is so emotionally powerful. That she's clearly in love with the woman is pretty much unmissable - Blyton even uses that word of her feelings for her teacher and it's one she seldom uses. But Alison's response when she recognises her affections are not returned and Miss Q is ridiculing her is one of real devastation, very reminiscent of the hurt of a spurned lover. Alison copes and responds with admirable dignity, and I think it's one of the most sensitively drawn, moving episodes in the whole of Blyton (who just cannot write of adult feelings at all)!

Even as a kid I picked up nuances of Sapphism there! No idea whether they were conscious on the part of the author or otherwise, but that PP makes for some interesting context.

KimberleyClark · 03/10/2022 17:20

Alison’s experience with Miss Quentin doesn’t cure her of these infatuations, it takes her ages to realise that Angela is a spoilt bitch and even when she does she doesn’t stop being friends with her so yes, it does make you wonder.

KillingMeDeftly · 03/10/2022 17:24

AsAnyFuleKno · 03/10/2022 16:47

Not perhaps the most reliable source but the Wikipedia entry for EB mentions a possible same sex affair between her and one of the nannies she employed.

"Blyton's marriage to Pollock was troubled for years, and according to Crowe's memoir, she had a series of affairs,[99] including a lesbian relationship with one of the children's nannies""

Blimey! Years ago I met a woman who'd been her nanny but she never mentioned any of that!!

I know EB's daughters were NC with each other as one thought she was a wonderful mother and the other thought she was terrible.

AsAnyFuleKno · 03/10/2022 17:29

KimberleyClark · 03/10/2022 17:20

Alison’s experience with Miss Quentin doesn’t cure her of these infatuations, it takes her ages to realise that Angela is a spoilt bitch and even when she does she doesn’t stop being friends with her so yes, it does make you wonder.

In fairness, with Angela, Alison gets over her crush at the end of the fourth year and in the fifth, they have a more equal friendship where Alison isn't afraid to criticise Angela.

Unfortunately, Alison transfers her affections to Miss Willcox instead - she is never cured of the propensity to have crushes, which is interesting as EB usually makes a point of curing girls of their 'faults' even if it takes a whole book series to do it (as with Gwen).

goldenbag · 03/10/2022 17:34

Yes - miss Quentin's rejection and Alison's reaction goes way further than hero-worship
scenario

Phos · 03/10/2022 17:35

@HellaFitzgerald @ReneBumsWombats

Oh I see now! The version I had in the 90s, he was called Winky, obviously changed for the reasons stated. I didn’t realise that wasn’t his original name.

AsAnyFuleKno · 03/10/2022 17:49

goldenbag · 03/10/2022 17:34

Yes - miss Quentin's rejection and Alison's reaction goes way further than hero-worship
scenario

"Alison sat on a bench in the lobby, sick at heart, shocked and hurt beyond measure. Shevhad not been able to help hearing - and once she had grasped that her idol, Miss Quentin, was poking fun at her, she had not even been able to get up and go. She had had to sit there, hearing every cruel word."

"... 'I have to think all this out," said Alison to herself. "I can't tell anyone. I'm too ashamed. Oh, Miss Quentin, how could you say all that?"
Poor Alison! This was the greatest shock she had ever had in her easy-going life. All her admiration and love for Miss Quentin had vanished at once - passed like a dream in the night."

Keyansier · 03/10/2022 19:42

ReformedWaywardTeen · 03/10/2022 16:55

Most books of that era are terrible when re read with adult, modern eyes.

I tell you which are terrible that I loved- Sweet Valley High. They are dreadful! Jessica is a bitch to her sister out of jealousy, their parents are hopeless. Jess breaks the rules all the time and they shrug.

Now they would use Jess as the cautionary tale, she'd be the druggy character or the pregnant teen.

You might enjoy this website Wink

snarkvalley.wordpress.com/category/sweet-valley-high/original-series/

Waitwhat23 · 03/10/2022 20:18

This is a great thread! I suspect many of the posters here will enjoy the book 'World of Girls' by Rosemary Auchmuty, who delves into many of these points (including Bosom Friends and The Crush).

Emsb2022 · 03/10/2022 20:37

Yes! Ioved them when I was a child, remember Darryl, Alicia, Sally, spoilt Gwendoline... there was a girl called Sheila who was working class and the girls picked up on a grammatical error she made, I homed in on this at 11 years old, because I was living on a council estate and my life was very different from these boarding school girls - what the hell was lacrosse?? Also loved the twins at St Claires, another boarding school series but Malory Towers was my favourite.

Arbesque · 03/10/2022 21:10

goldenbag · 03/10/2022 17:34

Yes - miss Quentin's rejection and Alison's reaction goes way further than hero-worship
scenario

I dunno. I think Alison was very romantic and in the absence of males lost her heart to teachers and fellow pupils. It was probably quite common amongst boarding school pupils.
I can easily imagine her doing the season and developing infatuations with various unsuitable men before genuinely falling in love with someone decent and having a happy marriage.

Arbesque · 03/10/2022 21:12

KimberleyClark · 03/10/2022 16:11

I remember it being said by the mistresses that while Alicia would gain admiration for her sharp wit throughout her life, she would get little real affection.

Yes I think it was Miss Grayling who said that. So obviously EB realised Alicia wasn't a very nice person.

Rebecca34 · 03/10/2022 22:00

MurderAtTheBeautyPageant · 03/10/2022 16:57

Multiple affairs including one with the nanny. Goodness me, Enid.

Show quote history

Well, this answers the question on what all the mothers did while their children were in boarding school.

okytdvhuoo · 03/10/2022 22:26

MoonahSton · 03/10/2022 15:30

I loved Enid Blyton, Malory Towers, St Clare's, famous five.....
Like PPs I really wanted to go to a boarding school in a castle with a pool filled by the tide. I doubt I'd have fitted in though, I wasn't hearty enough for the Malory towers girls.
The description of Mam'zelle wandering round St Clare's in the middle of the night locking up "burglars" made me laugh though, I'd forgotten about that but it all came flooding back.

I loved the Secret Island the most. Her descriptions of the Island with it's caves, beach, tumbling stream, the willow house and the "bedroom" in the gorse bushes with the heather and bracken beds were wonderful, I was desperate to live on it when I was small.

I always wondered what the hell all the mothers did all day? The kids were all packed off to boarding school, there's mention of cooks (Joanna in FF) and gardeners. In MT and SC they rock up for half term (which always just seemed to be a weekend?) and then bugger off again, although the holidays and what they during aren't mentioned much - I think sometimes Sally spent half the holidays with Darrell and went off to school with them. In the famous five, they get home from a term at boarding school and head straight off on an adventure somewhere. Aunt Fanny, George's mother was doing what? her only child was never at home, Joanna the cook was making all the food and making beds. Aunt Fanny seemed to dither about making sure Uncle Quentin wasn't being disturbed and being ill. You'd think they'd have been a bit concerned that their kids were getting kidnapped or catching criminals every holiday. Finniston Farm always made me laugh - people had been searching for the lost treasure from the castle (and the location of the castle itself?) for centuries but smug know it all Julian and co found the whole thing after having a bit of a poke around for an afternoon.

I loved the Secret island! I still have it now and read it again as an adult when I stumbled across it back at home. Still loved it!!!

kierenthecommunity · 03/10/2022 23:17

That Snark Valley website is hilarious - the writer has summed up all perfectly. I like reading about the continuation books (uni, adult life etc) that we didn’t get.

But exactly how long were those twins 16 for? Seemed like it was at least 4 or 5 years with all the stuff that happened, all the holidays they had, and several homecomings/proms etc

KimberleyClark · 03/10/2022 23:24

I think that someone worked out that the Famous Five would have been in their early 20s by the time if Five are Together again, based on the number of summer holiday adventures they had, and Timmy would have been the same age.

ChildrenOfTheQuorn · 04/10/2022 01:38

I love this thread! I didn't realise there was a TV series; I'll have to look that up. I always wondered how they'd modernise it for today's audience and assumed they'd make the Clarissa/Bill subtext more explicit.

I had no idea so many people found Gwen sympathetic. From memory she was a sneaky, insecure, cowardly girl who only redeemed herself at the end of the last book. A bit like Draco. I remember liking Darrell when I was younger because she was similar to myself. I had a bad temper and usually got into fights on behalf of the underdog. I was younger than Darrell though when I went through this phase! Its also gratifying that almost no one on this thread liked Alicia. I assumed she was meant to be likeable but she missed the mark with me.

I was also part of the Enid Blyton fan club.

goldenbag · 04/10/2022 12:30

I found Darrell so annoying - so earnest and enthusiastic Grin. I must be the only person on this thread who liked Alicia - at least she had a healthy dose of cynicism HmmGrin

I reread Fifthformers at St Clare's last night. I love the way Blyton is so relaxed about really clumsy explanations for continuity errors/changes. Totally random:

"Pam had left St Clare's once but had missed it so much her parents had sent her back".

CountessWindyBottom · 04/10/2022 12:51

Oh my goodness I loved MT and St. Clare's so much and this thread has prompted me to go and hunt my old copies down. I read them when I was about 9 or 10 and was very excited to go to my all girls boarding school a couple of years later. While we did have the occasional midnight feast, tongue sandwiches and lashings of ginger beer had thankfully gone out of vogue.