The Secret Island - Cover Illustration

[Debbie]

Of course it is a fantasy - just look at how white their socks are

Viv

And beautifully polished shoes!

[Courtenay]

And perfect hair!

[Lucky Star]

It's a lovely, homely illustration but I have always thought that it really doesn't reflect the reality of the book. There is realistically no way they could look so neat and clean after months of living wild on the island and no way they could have hand woven such perfect baskets for their nuts and fruits. I actually didn't see this cover until adulthood; my childhood copy had the children watching the trippers while dressed in rather grubby looking 70s clothing. None of it matters to me though once I open this book. I find it the perfect escapist fantasy, absolutely captivating from the first page. One of my all time favourite books.

[pete9012S]

The Nenet reindeer herders - Incredible!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gI6q4R8ih4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't think these guys would have any problem wintering on the Secret Island!!

[Chrissie777]

And perfect hair!

Maybe they rinsed their hair with boiled water?

[dsr]

The Nenet reindeer herders - Incredible!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gI6q4R8ih4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't think these guys would have any problem wintering on the Secret Island!!

Apparently towards the end of war, about a third of the population of northern Norway simply headed for the hills and lived in caves for a few years until the war was over. Rather than be evacuated south. they lived in caves or under upturned boats or anywhere they could find shelter, from autumn 1944 until spring 1945. They might have managed an island winter too!

(I bet they didn't have pristine white socks and perfect hair, though.)

[Chrissie777]

French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant was a young guy in WW II. In the bonus material of his movie "Amour" he disclosed that both his parents were active in the French Résistance and when the Nazis arrested them, he and his younger brother fled to some caves in the Ardèche area where they lived for 2 months until they could safely move to some relatives in another town in Southern France.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004462/bio ... _ov_bio_sm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[pete9012S]

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/boo ... ruary+1993" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I was not familiar with this illustration by Dudley Wynne.

[John Pickup]

I wasn't familiar with it either, Pete, but the next one, number 9, will be very familiar to us all.
I see that David Schutte has a beautiful copy of The Secret Island for sale complete with a lovely wrapper for £250. It's not a first edition, obviously. It's very tempting.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm rather fond of Dudley Wynne's illustrations. He illustrated a number of picture-strips in several girls' annuals I had as a child (Bunty, June and School Friend). Although he isn't named in the annuals, his style is distinctive.

[Lucky Star]

That's a good picture Pete although I never pictured the cave as being quite so house-like. It looks like they're in a normal living room. A fascinating series of illustrations in that part of the Cave though.

[pete9012S]

Yes John, I assumed it was an illustration from The Six bad Boys after no barber in lockdown at first glance!

[John Pickup]

I see that David Schutte has a beautiful copy of The Secret Island for sale complete with a lovely wrapper for £250. It's not a first edition, obviously. It's very tempting.

I notice this book is no longer for sale and wondered whether anyone on here had bought it. It did look to be a beautiful copy.

[Chrissie777]

Very often eBay is more expensive than amazon.co.uk, so I usually order at amazon instead.
I just searched for "The Secret Island" on amazon.co.uk where I bought my copy for a very decent price (I think it only did cost 20 £) several years ago, but couldn't find an older copy. Sorry.
Did you check Abebooks?