Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm and Six Cousins Again

[Daisy]

Looking at the moon last night and seeing how it lit up the landscape - as it did for the badger watchers in Mistletoe farm, I thought that back when the book was written and earlier, was the moon's effect on the earth greater? "The moon doth shine as bright as day." Has pollution reduced it, until now, I wonder?

[Boatbuilder]

....Has pollution reduced it, until now, I wonder?

Presumably, you mean 'until now' in relation to the lower pollution levels currently, because of the drastic reduction in vehicular travel, Daisy?

It is a possibility, but back in October 2018, I took these two pictures shortly before 1-am on a beautiful moonlit night outside my house. They don't look like night time shots except for the presence of stars in the sky and lights in some of the properties. They were taken with an auto-exposure which set the camera shutter speed at a quarter of a second, with a wide aperture of f1.8 and a high ISO (sensitivity) setting of 25,600.

The shadows from the moon are quite distinct and it really was a very well-lit scene, which is what prompted me to grab the camera and take them. I was quite amazed at how the images turned out at the time - even the colours at night.

[Daisy]

Good points John although living on the coast as you do, I guess the air is better than in many places.
Yes, I meant reduced the effect of the moon. Last night the moon was so bright that I was unable to see any stars in the sky at all. We look out onto fields at the back of our house and stars are often quite visible.

[Debbie]

When I read Over Sea Under Stone (Susan Cooper) with my son, he was interested in the idea of the moon casing shadows-they use it as a marker in the treasure hunt for those who haven't read it. "The signs that wax and wane but do not die".
We then went out to see one night with a full moon and we were both surprised how bright it was and how dark the shadows. Now our borough council switches the streetlights off at midnight, so that helped, but we are in the middle of a housing estate, so not middle of the country, and it was still very clear.

[IceMaiden]

I've just finished this series, first time I've ever read it as it's not one that we had on the shelves when I was a child. My thoughts on them are that they are an excellent pair of books, with probably more adult problems (money woes, new house, family breakdown, arguements, worries over looking old!, business success) than most Enid Blyton books.

Although I loved both, the first edges it for me because of one character. Rose . I don't think Enid came up with a more hateful character! Not even Susie in the SS is as make you want to bite the wall in rage as recalcitrant Rose! What a selfish ,ungrateful, insufferable vacuous airhead of a woman! With each page I wanted to shake her harder, lying in bed for hours whilst her husband works hard long hours on a farm, relying on his kids to make him something to eat because his wife won't shift her bone idle behind and is allergic to work. Then whining about being disliked and welling up the cow-eyes if someone dares to say anything and deliberately ignoring or disregarding her husband's wishes. I was disappointed actually that she decided to stay, it would have been better and more realistic if she'd gone, not only was she clearly not farm wife material, she's a flake and too self-centred to ever change for long. Especially when she didn't do it because she wanted to after realising what she put her family through but because she had to after realising they were quite willing and capable of doing without her!

Melisande and Cyril seen to regress into their old ways in the second book which is a pity as they come so far in the first, but when their mother practically encourages them to do and is such a bad influence it's hardly surprising that they slip backwards. Roderick, despite being the youngest, comes across as the most sensible of the three. I like him best, partly as he's the nicest one but also because I can truly understand and empathise with him in his desire for a dog. Like him, I was so desperate for a dog as a child that I had an imaginary one, and knowing what it's like to yearn for one, I don't blame him for the way he is when Rose forces him take his puppy back. I remember on the way home from school once seeing an ad in a local paper for some puppies. Feeling sure that if I said I'd found a dog I'd be allowed one I borrowed a friend's phone, rang up to enquire and the lady said she'd keep one aside for me until she heard back. Elated, I quickly ran home and just like Roddy, the bubble burst when I got in and was told 'no chance'. I phoned the lady back in tears to tell her to sell the puppy to someone else as I couldn't have it. I hadn't even seen it but for the short time she'd kept it aside it had really felt like mine and it hurt to give it up, I can't imagine how it must feel to actually be given a puppy and made to hand it back. For me it's the worst thing Rose does. No wonder Roddy couldn't forgive her.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Although I loved both, the first edges it for me because of one character. Rose .

Interesting, IceMaiden. I too love both Six Cousins books but it's the second that edges it for me - because of Rose! I find it fascinating to see Enid Blyton exploring a deeply flawed adult character in such depth - a person who is so used to having the world revolve around her that she's managed to have three children (two of them quite grown-up) without ever really being a mother at all.

Even worse than Rose is Mrs. Kent in The Six Bad Boys (because she's utterly hard through and through) though we don't get to know her as well as we get to know Rose. Although not wholly convincing, we're led to believe that Rose regrets her selfish behaviour and and is willing to turn over a new leaf, including accepting the puppy. Mrs. Kent, however, seems to regret nothing except having given birth to her son!

[timv]

That rather fits my own first attitude to the Six Cousins books, when I read them aged eight! I found Rose an intriguing but totally horrible character, though very realistic - and the failure to back her (realistically rather weak though well-meaning) husband up and help at Holly Farm and getting rid of Roddy's puppy were both pretty unforgivable. Had Enid come across some upwardly-mobile suburban mothers like Rose in Bourne End social life, given its large houses like Rose and David's? It's noticeable that Melisande is mentally weaker, in going partly back to her old habits to please her mother, than the seemingly shy and indecisive Roddy - I found the Roddy/ Susan relationship one of the best bits of the story. Rose also has some similarities to Mrs Farrell in the House At The Corner story, who is no use at all when her husband is injured and droops around helplessly while her ignored younger children (Lizzie and the twins) do something practical and the spoilt elder daughter (Pam) has to shake herself up.

Given the constraints of what the publishers and the readers' parents would expect in the late 1940s and Enid's need to present a 'positive' message, she could hardly have Rose and David split up and head for divorce, but this would perhaps have been more likely in reality. I noted when I re-read the books as a teenager that Enid cleverly has Rose only 'reform' under extreme pressure once it's clear that even Cyril and Melisande have decided to stay on the farm if she leaves and she will have to go back to suburbia on her own, and Roddy does not hesitate in choosing the farm so she's lost her 'pet'. She is no doubt sincere at the time, even if it's only to keep her family together and avoid humiliating gossip from her socialite friends if she turns up in London without her family, and she's prepared to learn from Linnie (one of my favourite characters as she's not only sensible and hard-working but likes music and poetry). But you do wonder if she would have stuck to it long-term!

I read Monica Edwards' Punchbowl Farm stories about an urban family trying to make a success of a (rather more run-down) farm with not much money shortly after reading the Six Cousins books, and they make an interesting contrast - and were started around the same time, the later 1940s. A sign of a post-war desire to get out of the rat race and be self-sufficient and enjoy Nature long before the 1970s 'Good Life' phenomenon? (I wonder if Twigg and Tammylan were inspired by the 'rural expert' radio talks about wildlife by 'Romany' on the BBC in the 1940s?) In the PF stories, based on her own restoring a run-down farm in Surrey from 1948, ME had an artist father who was not interested in farming buying the farm for his horseloving wife and children, and continuing to work as a commercial artist on books. His Jack Longfield-like practical teenage son (Dion) did the farming when not at school, aided by his Jane-like horsey tomboy sister (Lindsey). A moody and clothes-obsessed elder sister (Andrea), like Melisande, was some but not much use and wanted to be a model, and a Roddy-like younger brother of around 10 (Peter) was more interested in his pets. This series was written up over 20-odd years , and I think it would have been interesting to have Enid do another follow-up and see how the children (and Rose) had got on in another couple of years. But would that have entailed too much of a departure for Enid, in writing more for teenagers than the under-12s?

[Anita Bensoussane]

When writing books for older children and teenagers, Enid Blyton was aware that younger children would read them too so she had to take that into account. In Enid Blyton - the Biography Barbara Stoney quotes from a letter which Enid Blyton wrote to publisher Noel Evans (of Evans Brothers) in 1947, discussing Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm:

"I will do it for ages 11-15, though I expect you realise that children of any age from six upwards will buy it! That's the snag about my books - no age limit really applies."

I don't think I've ever read any Punchbowl Farm books but they do sound interesting, Tim.

[Irene Malory Towers]

I have just reread the Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm and the Six Cousins Again as I bought a lovely hardback of the former. I love both books and find it hard to decide which is better. It is one of Enid Blyton's more mature writing and does not skirt over the hardships of living in a farm. I also wondered whether Rose's transformation at the end was going to last as it was such a turn around from her previous character. But I am being charitable and say that it will last as she finds out that her family can do without her, but she cannot do without them. It is that realisation that forces her to grow up, and i don't think that will ever leave her. To consolidate that she relents and lets Rodney have his puppy when again she realises that she has not regained his love for him.

They are interesting books and I like the way that most of the characters do change for the better, even if temporarily Cyril and Mellisande revert back to their old ways. In addition there are some very touching moments in both books.
Having read a few of the other family books, like House at the Corner, the Family at Red Roofs and the Children at Green Meadows, the Six Cousins and its sequel are a much mature set of books. The illustrations are beautiful.

[IceMaiden]

I find it fascinating to see Enid Blyton exploring a deeply flawed adult character in such depth - a person who is so used to having the world revolve around her that she's managed to have three children (two of them quite grown-up) without ever really being a mother at all.

Oh she is fascinating but she's utterly horrible and I find it impossible to have any sympathy on her as she's the cause of her own troubles. She does something to make her dislikeable then whinges that nobody likes her. She behaves selfishly and gets cross when others are not happy with her actions. She moves to a farm and expects a house like Marble Hall. And she is so unable to deal with a speck of dirt or blood and wrapped up in her looks it's a wonder she's got one child let alone three!

I truly don't think she would be able to reform for long, she's too weak and in reality rather than the road to Damascus moment Enid gives her, a moonlight flit with a note left on the pillow would be a more likely ending.

[Irene Malory Towers]

I think you are right (IceMaiden) the ending of the 2nd book was very unrealistic - ie that Rose could suddenly transform herself into a glamorous Linnie, but nevertheless I did like the ending. I prefer happy endings !

[GloomyGraham]

As with 'The Adventurous Four' series, I think there should have been a minimum of three for any series Enid wrote. If I had been her publisher at the time, I would have written it into her contract lol

I would have liked a final Six Cousins finale where Roddy's family including Rose (although she would still make some mistakes) faced a challenge and all pulled together to overcome it.

[timv]

Yes, it would have been nice to see the two families having to pull together as one in the face of some new crisis and the 'reformed' Rose to try to show that she was a more thoughtful and useful person - whether or not she was any good at it. I have toyed with ideas for a third Six Cousins book for years, possibly focussing on some newcomer or visitor with problems who the children got together to help or an unexpected farm crisis - there are plenty of '1950s farm crisis' storylines in contemporary authors like Monica Edwards that could have been used as the basis for a plot. Enid could handle a family/workplace crisis plot, as seen in Circus Days Again, Family at Redroofs, House at the Corner, Those Dreadful Children, and in a different way Come To The Circus - and seeing if a 'reformed' character will stay that way had been referenced in the St Clares books (Bobby and Carlotta stay reformed, Mirabel doesn't). Melissance in the 2nd SC book, like Mirabel in the final St Clare's book, is a bit of a disappointment - though her slipping back into her old ways to please her mother is realistic enough. Perhaps Enid could have had Linnie called off to help a sick aunt (as with Mrs Mannering and Aunt Polly in the Adventure series), and Rose try to fill the gap but make a mess of it? Sardonic comments from Dorcas the cook at her naivity would have provided a bit of comic relief.

I suspect though that Enid was more focussed on her existing long-running series by the mid-1950s,when she could have gone back and written a new Six Cousins book - or a sequel to House At The Corner, another of my favourite ideas. The opportunity would have given her a 'rest' from churning out Five or Find Outers books, and could have stimulated her creativity - but like Agatha Christie with Poirot, I suspect that her publishers were pushing her to stick to what produced most money!

[GloomyGraham]

Perhaps Enid could have had Linnie called off to help a sick aunt

Given Enid's fondness for recycling plots, a third book could easily have seen Linnie & husband lost at sea. The children have to keep operating the farm and though Roddy's family provide substantial support, the children are advised by everyone who matters that Mistletoe Farm should be sold.

Of course, the parents (who may or not have suffered amnesia, kidnapping or critically injured hands or eyes during their absence lol) eventually return.

The two families celebrate by attending Carl Crack's circus which is currently performing in the nearest town.

Ha Ha

[Irene Malory Towers]

I am going to contradict most of the readers above by saying that I preferred the just the 2 books for Mistletoe Farm. Enid Blyton didn't know where to stop sadly, and she often over extended her series, most of the adventure ones in fact and the last ones tended to be very weak. Keep the readers wanting more ! The 2 Mistletoe farm books were excellent and a third one would not be up to the same standard. And there was nowhere to go, the characters had developed as much as they can. Yes it is a bit unrealistic that Rose could dramatically change overnight, but I think for the most part the change would have been permanent. She got such a shock when she realised that she was not wanted that she transformed herself. Well I like to believe that anyway.