Has anyone ever read Malory towers?

[Orangejelly1]

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!

Clarissa hasn’t appeared in the tv series.

They have made some changes with characters - there’s no mention of the different towers, Betty isn’t in it at all, only one Mamzelle, Mavis is a much older girl than Darrell’s class and there are a few random characters thrown in.

I never thought there was any Clarissa and Bill subtext. Just thought they both liked horses. Surprised how many times it’s come up.

I liked Alicia too - I like that she tells it like it is and doesn't take it all so seriously.

I disliked Darrell from the moment she criticises Gwen for crying on the first night - god forbid a 12 year old is homesick

I think I read pretty much anything Enid Blyton had written when I was a kid and loved them all. Not reread any as an adult though.

Any time I think of EB now I do get rather hijacked by this monologue from Joyce Grenfell

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

😆

There was a Kathleen in the first form at St Claire’s who was never heard of again.

I loved Mallory Towers, right up until I got to 'Last Term at Mallory Towers' where the new girl (possibly Amanda? Had her school burned down or something?) was described very negatively for saying things like "Why can't girls have the same education as boys?" Ruined the whole series for me.

Prudence Cuthbert , a “frightfully pi” but not very nice vicar’s daughter at St Claire’s got criticised for wanting to discuss things like “should women rule the world” and thought that they should. God forbid anyone wanting to talk about anything other than games or midnight feasts.

After getting a dressing down from Miss Theobald, Prudence wrote her a letter of apology and promised to do better in future, and Miss Theobald disliked her even more for it. What was the kid supposed to do?

When they call Alma Pudden "Pudding" if only she'd laughed and said "I AM rather puddingy aren't I, but I'll soon thin out" then the girls may have called her Pudding with affection

When they call Alma Pudden "Pudding" if only she'd laughed and said "I AM rather puddingy aren't I, but I'll soon thin out" then the girls may have called her Pudding with affection

"Lumpy Latimer..."

Anyway, even after they find out she has a medical condition that increases her appetite and makes it hard for her to lose weight, Doris still imitates her gobbling at a meal and the girls all laugh. Blyton says there was no unkindness in the laughter, so that's OK then.

Just read these as had covid and time. Did love them but my goodness the girls are horrible to each other. Bullying just nasty. Sounds like Tory Party

I’m pretty sure she talks about the ‘sign of the crooked cross’ on a sea plane in the Adventurous Four book too.

@ReneBumsWombats yes, plus they're massive hypocrites given they all seem to
spend their own time stuffing themselves at midnight feasts!!

She was meant to go and speak to Miss T. in person, as Bobby did.

I think Mrs T criticised her not for writing the letter, but because she clearly was writing what she felt she ought to say rather than actually wanting to change. The fact Prudence had written rather than coming to see her was indicative of that she knew she was being false and was trying to hide that by sending a letter rather than going in person.

When Bobby in St Clare's gets a dressing down from the Head, she thinks about it and rushes back to tell the Head that she is sorry and will do better. That is better received not because it's in person, but because it is heartfelt and meant.

I think it's in the same passage:
"The crooked cross, the sign of the enemy, the foe of half the world."
When they're looking down at the seaplanes.

There is another one where WWII is referenced. There's two children from England evacuated to their Scottish cousins, and they initially hate each other then they find a spy (?) plot. Something like "The Secret of Kidillin".

You also have an indication in "The Valley of Adventure" that the hiding of the treasures and the blowing up of the escape valley were probably due to WWII.

"The crooked cross, the sign of the enemy, the foe of half the world."

This has reminded me of Angela Brazil, writing before the advent of the Nazis - her schoolgirls commonly wore a 'swastika' as a good luck charm for exams and the like, which reads very oddly in the 21st century, although of course the swastika was a good-luck symbol from ancient times until it was adopted and forever tainted by the Nazis.

I loved the Trebizon books and inspired by this thread I've been rereading them.

They stand up quite well (I'd forgotten how sport heavy they are though!) but there's horrible fat shaming. At least five times in every book it's mentioned how large and plump Sally is- she's even got the hilarious nickname, Elf because she's so big.

The fact that two of the girls are black is mentioned rather more regularly than needed too.

I also loved Zerelda. She was too good for the ungrateful bastards at Malory Towers.

I loved all the Mallory Towers books although I do remember they got more tiresome to read toward the end. I had the huge, hardback books with more than one 'booksworth' in each, I wonder what happened to them-must ask my Mum.

I read all the haughtiest girl series too, and St Claire's. I never could get into St Claires quite so much, I think I just had such an attachment to Mallory Towers. In my head, it was 'Naughtiest Girl' series and then Mallory Towers for older readers, then St Claires. The illustrations would throw me as my Mum would buy different versions of the books, so some illustrated by people would have Elizabeth Allen as a little girl with blonde locks and blue eyes, and some would have her as a tall slim teen looking girl with curly dark hair. I used to agonise over how old Elizabeth was meant to be when she got sent to school? Can anyone enlighten? She looks about 8 in some of the illustrations.

Also, how much was 20 pence in those days, equivalent of now? So many questions.

Me and my friend had a midnight feast once when she stayed over. I was so sick in the middle of the night as a result. Beyond that, my other friend I stayed with had it in her head that we must have one, and I wasn't the least bit interested and kept falling asleep. She wasn't impressed. All inspired by the books. I dreaded going to boarding school, and was relived when it came up in conversation and my Mum said she wouldn't be able to afford it.
I never picked up on the snobbery, I just assumed the girls lived different lives to me, not necessarily more privileged ones. And I remember the snobbery toward Carlotta, a circus girl, which was then turned around.

@gaymeanshappy

I always assumed in the original NG books the pocket money was two shillings, so they changed it in the 70s versions to 20p

Those books really lent to being kept pre decimal though, as it would be easier to imagine the two shillings buying so much whereas the 20p has really dated 😂

I think the continuation books had changed it ti £2 but even now that would’ve stretch that far!

I never picked up on the snobbery or judgement at that age either. I loved Naughtiest Girl! I thought Elizabeth Allen was 11 and she had blonde hair in the copy I had. I read old hardbacks of Malory Towers and St Claire's that were my mum's. She said she never has a full set because books were so expensive!

You'd love Tim in the Antonia Forest Kingscote books, then.

Thank you, that makes sense! So nowadays I imagine it'd be much more than that. I mean, they bought cakes, sweets, stamps... What is £2 going to get you?

There was also no mention of corporal punishment.

I don't think the subtext was intentional but nevertheless now I'm older it's quite easy to read it that way IMO.

I loved Naughtiest Girl too. Especially the book where Julian joins.

I think Enid Blyton is the reason I like ginger beer. I was groomed by her stories!

@gaymeanshappy Ah 20p was a later veriosn. The original (1940) "naughtiest girl in the school", the weekly pocket money from the box was two shillings!

For Elizabeth's hair colour it's definitely "dark curls" in the text (and in original illustrations), however I think the 1970s editions covers had her as a blonde girl!

I've been rereading a few of them and I can see now why people see Bill/Clarissa and Alison that way and perhaps it was intentional - I hope so! I don't think I'd ever have picked it up myself though. Would Blyton have made Alison out to be so silly for mooning over teachers who didn't deserve it if that was what she was trying to say? Though of course there's no reason lesbians can't have silly crushes as much as anyone else.