Her Golden Years

[Francis]

Looking at my favourite books by Enid It appears that her greatest years were during the period 1942 until 1953 when she had reached maturity and yet was still comparatively fresh and young. Her greatest series were at their peaks during these years with her best Famous Five books, Adventure books, Find-Outer books, Malory Towers books all being published. Perhaps we could highlight one particular year - but that would be very difficult. I do not of course mean that some of her work outside this period was not of the highest quality.

[Deej]

Like you Francis, I feel Enid has produced work of such a high quality that it is difficult to choose a year or period of time where she was at her 'best'. However, in 1942, the year Five on a Treasure Island was published, the most magical book Blyton ever wrote IMO, has to stand out for me.

[pete9012S]

....the most magical book Blyton ever wrote IMO,

Yes,I totally agree with that.It's the most magical book for me too.Of course I'm sure others will have other favourites,but that book definitely changed my whole life and opened my eyes!!

[Poppy]

1948-49. In which The Valley of Adventure, The Sea of Adventure, Five Get into Trouble & The Rockingdown Mystery as well as lots more were written.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I agree from about 1943 but for me her golden years go right up to 1960, as she was still writing some great Famous Five stories up until then.

[Aussie Sue]

For me the golden years started 1938

The following are all big favourites of mine and are books/series I have read over and over to myself and to grandchildren and other children at every opportunity.

- The Secret Island - 1938
- Mr Gallianos Circus - 1938
- The Enchanted Wood - 1939
- The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage - 1943

cheers
Sue

[John Pickup]

1947 was a great year, The Valley Of Adventure which for me is probably the best adventure story by any children's author ever written and Five On Kirrin Island Again and The Mystery Of The Missing Necklace. I think her strongest stories were written around this time.

[Francis]

Like John I would be tempted by 1947 as some truly superb books were published, but then again I also agree
that 'Five on a Treasure Island' is a truly special book launching Enid into yet another level of achievement. It is amazing how she managed to maintain her standards and freshness - as Julie says up to at least 1960. Of course she also wrote some wonderful stories in the late 1930s. Just shows how difficult it is to choose.

[Deej]

I agree from about 1943 but for me her golden years go right up to 1960, as she was still writing some great Famous Five stories up until then.

To be fair, I don't think all the Famous Five books were as good as the other, especially the latter ones.

[Paul Austin]

Banshee Towers is the most tragic of her books. She wasn't Enid any more by then.

[Francis]

I suspect that the decline was subtle and gradual so that books became less innovative although still readable. When Enid was young she was full of bright ideas which, with experience, blossomed into something special. I believe this process was complete by the early 1940s.

[Moonraker]

Banshee Towers was, in my opinion, definitely the weakest in the Find-Outers' series, however, I wouldn't call it a tragedy. Enid had set such a very high standard, that a less then perfect story was seemed to be very poor. I have always wondered if Enid was in the wrong mind-set when she penned Banshee - it has always had more of a R Mystery feel to it. An authoress who wrote so many hundreds of stories can't be expected to turn out a jewel every time.

[John Pickup]

I agree that Banshee Towers was the worst of the series but then Five Are Together Again is the worst of the FF series for me and The River Of Adventure is my least favourite of that series. The one thing in common is they are all the last of their respective series which I would hazard a guess is when the imagination is fast running out of ideas. The later Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge are nowhere near as good as the first ones and Home To Witchend, Malcolm Saville's last Lone Pine book, is awful compared to its predecessors. In fact, if a new author had written it, it would never have been published.

[Francis]

It is truly astonishing how well Enid kept up the standard of her writing considering the number of books she wrote. I believe there were several years when she published a large number of books. I haven't studied the output but I would imagine they tailed off considerably in the late 1950s and the 1960s. Other children's authors were much less prolific.

[Lucky Star]

It would be impossible for anyone to have maintained the high standards she set throughout the whole of her career. She wrote literally hundreds of books and thousands of stories, poems, articles etc. It would be unrealistic to expect them all to be great; there simply had to be a few clunkers along the way. In fact the wonder is that there were not more of them.

As to the "golden years" I would say anywhere between 1939 and about 1955 were the golden years.