The Enid Blyton Society

I hope this is the right place to post my question.

As the famous Five were published for the first time in September 1942, I'm planning to re-read my favorite sequels soon to celebrate their 75th anniversary.
However, I was always wondering if there's one non-fiction book on EB that tells us more about the time when she particularly wrote FOATI?
How long did it take her to write FOATI?
When did she start writing?

Don't get me wrong, I've read all pages of Barbara Stoney on the FF and I know who inspired George, but I just would like to find out a bit more about EB writing her first FF volume.
I checked Barbara Stoney, "A Childhood in Green Hedges" and Sheila Ray's very critical book on EB, but none of them are really helpful.

Thanks!

I presume you know this book, Chrissie? Its a good one to have - although it doesn't concentrate on FOATI. I don't know of any book that goes more deeply into the writing of FOATI unfortunately.



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Rob Houghton wrote:I presume you know this book, Chrissie? Its a good one to have - although it doesn't concentrate on FOATI. I don't know of any book that goes more deeply into the writing of FOATI unfortunately.

Yes, Rob, I've got Norman Wright's book years ago and read it many times (among many other things I love the map from the underwater/underground passage leading to Kirrin Island).
It's a pity that no diary entries of EB are left mentioning FOATI while she was in the process of writing it.
I wonder if she realized how special it would become to many of her readers in the future decades?

I checked the Anecdotage,but that only reviews the book itself.

Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Children's Literature by David Rudd may give more background detail Chrissie?

Thank you, Pete, I just printed it out and will try to request it from our library.
I managed to get a few older books from the UK via public library over the years.

Unfortunately this one is too expensive for me...I've checked eBay, then amazon US, UK and Canada. 75 £ is way over my budget.
If it would have contained David Rudd's opinion on FF, Adventure series and R series instead, I might have seriously considered it, but I'm just not into Noddy or Malory Towers.

I think in the end the majority of biographies about Enid all take heavily from Barbara Stoney's biography. Nothing new has really been written since!

That and also from Imogen Smallwood's book.

This is my opinion only but if you are really an Enid Blyton enthusiast, you have to own or at least read the three books below so that you know Enid, her works and her life better.

1) The Story of My Life
2) Enid Blyton: A Biography by Barbara Stoney
3) A Childhood At Green Hedges by Imogen Smallwood

and I must add:

The Blyton Phenomenon by Sheila Ray
Enid Blyton by George Greenfield

Chrissie, I haven't read the book myself but you may find the information that you want in Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Children's Literature by David Rudd. It is written in academic style.

I agree - and also 'The Enid Blyton Story' by Bob Mullan is a good one, although it does steal a lot from the others such as Sheila Ray.

Not of much use to Chrissie, but David Rudd's book is held in many UK libraries and should be available via Inter Library Loan to other libraries.

http://copac.jisc.ac.uk/search?author=D ... lyton&rn=5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would doubt that many American libraries would hold a copy, or pay £75 for such a niche item!

sixret wrote:This is my opinion only but if you are really an Enid Blyton enthusiast, you have to own or at least read the three books below so that you know Enid, her works and her life better.
1) The Story of My Life
2) Enid Blyton: A Biography by Barbara Stoney
3) A Childhood At Green Hedges by Imogen Smallwood
and I must add:
The Blyton Phenomenon by Sheila Ray
Enid Blyton by George Greenfield

Except of the book by George Greenfield I have all the others ("The Story of my Life" in English and in German by Erika Klopp Verlag), but unfortunately Imogen Smallwood does not write much on the FF.

Fiona1986 wrote:Not of much use to Chrissie, but David Rudd's book is held in many UK libraries and should be available via Inter Library Loan to other libraries.
I would doubt that many American libraries would hold a copy, or pay £75 for such a niche item!

Do you have a copy of the book, Fiona?
Thanks for the copac link, I printed it out to request it via Inter Library Loan.

Rob Houghton wrote:I agree - and also 'The Enid Blyton Story' by Bob Mullan is a good one, although it does steal a lot from the others such as Sheila Ray.

Rob, does he write more about the FF?
I will add him to my amazon dot co dot uk list.

No, I don't have it Chrissie. I'm also fairly sure that none of those UK institutions would approve an international inter library loan. All UK inter library loans are handled by the British Library and you have to be a member of the inter library loan system in order for the charges to be processed.