Enid Blyton Biography by Paula Whiteside

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Kate Mary
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Enid Blyton Biography by Paula Whiteside

Post by Kate Mary »

Apologies if this has been discussed on the forums before, but I have just found this on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Enid-Blyton-Bio ... gw_s_cp_38" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Has anyone read it???

Kate
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Tony Summerfield
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Re: Enid Blyton biography

Post by Tony Summerfield »

No, it hasn't cropped up before, Kate, at least not that I have noticed. Who on earth is Paula Whiteside, I have certainly never heard of her and she certainly isn't a member of the Society. As I don't have a kindle, I guess I will not find out! :roll:

I have found a bit more by going into Google and I read this as one of the facts about Enid Blyton.

"Blyton ridiculed her first husband, Hugh Pollock, in the form of the inept policeman, PC Goon, from the “Five Finder-Outer” series."

This is one of the reasons why I think it is dangerous to come up with speculative theories as they are soon turned into actual fact!! :twisted:
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Re: Enid Blyton biography

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

The thing is, where has she got her information from? Would it be by reading Barbara Stoney's book? Or has she just watched the drama Enid and wrote the book from that!

8)
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Re: Enid Blyton biography

Post by Fiona1986 »

The one and only review is quite interesting:

"I got this when it was a freebie and honestly I still feel a bit robbed! I read so many Blyton books when I was a child and now passed them on to my daughter, a good 100 of them, but I never knew anything about the lady author herself. This looked ok I thought....its only 20 something pages so its not going to be in-depth, but seriously if you are going to write a book at least make sure its been proof read....at one point it states bearing in mind she died in 1968, 'to commemorate the 100 year anniversay of her death' erm well its not 2068 is it? It looks like this booklet has been gleaned from several articles that you can research yourself from the list in the back of the book. Imagine your child comes home from school and says my literacy homework is to find out as much about Enid Blyton as I can on the internet and make a booklet....this would be the result. Its a few intersting factoids about the lady, her life and body of works, I probably wouldn't bother with this and if you are reading this review you have the internet so go and look her up on wikipedia instead!"
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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Re: Enid Blyton biography

Post by Kate Mary »

Quite right Julie, more Helena Bonham-Carter than Barbara Stoney, methinks. It runs to just 25 pages so is hardly an in-depth study.
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Re: Enid Blyton biography

Post by Lucky Star »

Julie2owlsdene wrote:The thing is, where has she got her information from?
8)
Well the thing about Hugh Pollock and Goon was one of the theories expressed by Duncan Maclaren in his book Looking for Enid. It appears it has now been quoted as an actual fact of Blyton's life. God help us if this woman gets her hands on a copy of the anecdotage. :roll:
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Re: Enid Blyton biography

Post by Maureen1954 »

I am currently in the procees of purchasing 2 autobiographies of Enid Blyton,one for my daughter and one for me so I will still with that.

I also listened yesterday on here a couple of videos that is in a post somewhere and I think the ladies name was Gail and the video contained footage about Enid when she was interviewed by BBC and another interview where her children and friends talk about Enids life it was very interesting and I will try to find it and repost the link on this post if you wish.

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Re: Enid Blyton biography

Post by Maureen1954 »

Back again I found it and it was on Gail Renards website....

http://www.gailrenard.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Below is the link for video

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/blyton/8401.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: Enid Blyton biography

Post by Moonraker »

I would suggest that at £6.71, the Kindle edition of Barbara Stoney's biography is far better value. If I have £3 to spare, it will buy a pint of beer, not a copy and pasted twenty-five page biography. :roll:
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Another Biography

Post by Tony Summerfield »

Merged with an older thread.

I am not sure that this one has been mentioned before, but it seems that every Tom, Dick and Paula are jumping on the bandwagon now,

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-GB/ebook ... ittle+book" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
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Re: Another Biography

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I'm getting tired of hearing about these jokes of books! Even the synopsis is peppered with punctuation errors:
SYNOPSIS

ABOUT THE BOOK
Enid Blyton (1897-1968) stands as one of the most popular childrens book writers of the 20th century. Her legacy continues through a devoted fan base of those who grew up with her stories of inquisitive children getting into misadventures in the English countryside. Blyton also appealed to younger readers with her Noddy series, about a little boy made out of wood who lives in Toytown; the series produced a total of 24 books and a string of popular TV series.
The appeal of Blytons books for older readers, from ages eight to 12, was primarily the lack of parental supervision or interference; in the Famous Five books, the indulgent aunt and uncle generally let the kids go off, unaccompanied in caravans or on camping trips across the moors at the ripe old ages of 14 though 16.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Paula Whiteside is currently a freelance writer for several web content providers, as well as the copy editor for Wine Business Monthly, an international industry magazine located in the Sonoma Valley Wine Country.
EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK
Although her academic career was promising, her parents marriage was not as stable. Enid later recalled nights when she would comfort her brothers at the top of the stairs as their parents loudly argued below. Her father left her mother for his secretary at the wholesale clothing business he managed when Enid was 13. To keep up appearances, the children, when asked, would tell neighbors that he was away on a visit. Enid later used this ruse as the premise for her book The Six Bad Boys, which Blyton biographer, Barbara Stoney, called an unusual attempt for Enid at social realism."
With her greatest ally gone from the home, young Enid began writing as a way to escape her mother. This most likely contributed to her prolific writing output as an adult, writing up to 10,000 words a day. The young Blyton also entertained her brothers by telling them stories, made up rhymes, wrote in her diary and read prodigiously. Her work and determination eventually paid off; and after a series of submissions and rejections, she won a childrens poetry competition at the age of 14.
At the age of 17, upon graduation from St. Christophers, Enid left home to live with her friend Mary Attenboroughs family. She continued to visit her father on occasion but was resentful of his new wife, who she considered the cause of her parents divorce, and their three children. Although she showed a gift for music, encouraged by her mother to become a pianist, Enid decided not to enter the Guildhall School of Music and instead followed her passion as a writer...
Buy a copy to keep reading!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction
- Background and Upbringing
- Major accomplishments and awards
- Personal Life/Scandals
- Recap of recent News
- Public statements and attributed quotes
- Trivia/Facts
- Conclusion
- Sources and Further Reading
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Re: Another Biography

Post by Katharine »

Well the author doesn't appear to believe in the use of apostrophes! I'm guessing she is American as 'neighbour' was missing the 'u' and I don't think Enid would have 'graduated' from St Christopher's would she?

I'd love to know what comes under the heading 'Further Reading'.
Last edited by Katharine on 19 Mar 2015, 20:50, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Another Biography

Post by Fiona1986 »

I'm betting nothing in here is new, it will just be recycled from the various books already written about her. Maybe I should start reading biographies of famous people then just produce my own by writing the same thing again, only worse?
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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Re: Another Biography

Post by John Pickup »

It's highly unlikely Paula Whiteside has anything new to offer. It doesn't appear to be very well written either if the synopsis is anything to go by.
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Re: Another Biography

Post by Poppy »

Is anyone else struggling the preview the book? No matter what device I am on, it just doesn't seem to load.
Judging by the synopsis, though, I don't think I will be buying this.
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