Newnes Tower House Series

[timv]

A very interesting selection, most of which appears to have dropped 'off the radar' since the 1960s along with their authors. Thanks for this reminder; it is an interesting question whether any of the other Newnes authors were influenced by Enid's earlier work, or that of other contemporaries. The 'caravan holiday' book sounds like a familiar 1940s theme, on which both Enid and David 'Severn' (real surname Unwin, son of publisher Sir Stanley Unwin) had written recently - both presumably looking back to the Edwardian 'romance of the road' pioneered by Kenneth Graham with 'Wind In The Willows' and in real life by maverick artist Augustus John. DS wrote the 'Crusoe' series from 1943-6 about romantic 'back to Nature' holiday-time hermit Mr 'Crusoe' Robinson and his child allies who live on a farm; this has some similarities with parts of Enid's Six Cousins series except that the hermit is a 'goodie'.

I read 'Three Boys And A Circus', but had no idea then that it had been published much earlier as a separate book of its own, as part of a Blyton omnibus called 'Dog Stories' in the mid-1960s. This was clearly the William Collins edition of 1959, for which see the 'Recreation section: omnibus volumes' in the Cave. It had a yellow hardback cover, but the soft outer cover quickly fell to bits!

[Rob Houghton]

I highly recommend Demon Island - quite thrilling, with children firing guns at the enemy!!

[John Pickup]

I've got Ringed Round With Foes and Peril On The Ridge. I remember the latter book was a thrilling read.