The Enid Blyton Society

When I said 'Prince Paul spoils the series to a certain extent' - I actually meant he changes the dynamic...as a character, he doesn't add much to the book except by way of offering new opportunities - planes, castles, etc, as Anita says. I don't dislike him, but I prefer his body guards, who add a lot to the series, and his servants in Kilimooin and the fact he has an aeroplane to help with their greatest adventure in Africa, rather than the character himself!

I don't really dislike Paul, but when he is introduced into the series it changes considerably. That's why I find it hard to put 'Island' in with the other books in the series. Spiggy holes always seems like book 1 of the series to me, because no other Blyton series introduces a main character after the first book. That's why Island doesn't seem to belong to the same series.

I agree - when I do a read of the Secret series, I never read Secret Island with them, I just read the other four, in whichever order I feel like at the time. Secret Island is always, to me, a standalone book.

Carlotta King wrote:Yes, it is, Chrissie. I really like her style; her clothes, and her hair and her look.

I've watched Jane Birkin in newer movies, but also remember her from the Romy Schneider & Alain Delon film "The Swimming Pool".
Wasn't she also in some Agatha Christie movie (or do I mix her up with Mia Farrow?)?

Yeah, she was in Death On The Nile and in Evil Under The Sun.

So in the remaining four books what/who makes the trips abroad possible? Are Ranni and Pilescu also written out?

I remember Wolfgang saying that some of the German books feature a boy called Larry King, son of an American millionaire who runs a lemonade business. Incidentally, the Adventurous Four books are incorporated into the Secret series in the German translations.

Yes, Anita, they used Larry King instead of Prince Paul.

Fiona1986 wrote:So in the remaining four books what/who makes the trips abroad possible? Are Ranni and Pilescu also written out?

Prince Paul, Ranni and Pilescu don't exist in the German translations. I totally forgot about Larry King, it has been years since I read most of these books except of the first translation which I read in 2015.

The first book takes place within 17 days only (I remember when I read the English original it was several months until snow started falling).

The second book (The Secret of Spiggy Holes) takes place in the summer hols about 60 kilometers away from the island in the lake (vol. 1).
Miss Jones is mentioned who takes care of the Arnold children while their aviator parents are away.
It takes place within 23 days (somehow I enjoyed writing down when it started and when it ended...one of my idiosyncrasies).

Book 3 also takes place in Spiggy Holes, this time in the fall (17 days). But according to the masthead the original title is "The Adventurous Four" (just like Anita ad Wolfgang mentioned, Bertelsmann publishers merged two EB series, The Secret series and the Adventurous Four).
The German title is "The Arnold Children are chasing the Gun Smugglers".

Volume 4 again takes place again in Spiggy Holes in Cornwall (12 days only, in the spring). This is the translation of "The Adventurous Four Again", but it's been too long since I've read it. I don't remember anything from the plot (I bought these books in 1983 from my German Bertelsmann Book Club).

Vol. 5: I remember that I disliked "The Secret Mountain" (Die Arnoldkinder halten zusammen), because it takes place in Africa which never was a favorite location of mine, probably that's why I never cared much for "The River of Adventure" or "The Ship of Adventure"...I prefer EB's books taking place in the UK (with the exception of "Valley of Adventure" which is set in Austria).

Vol. 6 is "The Secret of Killimooin" (Die Arnoldkinder auf heisser Spur) (maybe could be translated as "The Arnold Children on a Hot Trail"?) I probably didn't read it again after 1983 and didn't care much about it.

Vol.7 "The Secret of Moon Castle" (Die Arnoldkinder auf Geisterjagd) (The Arnoldkinder chasing Ghosts) ditto.

And vol. 8 has been newly written by German children's book author Brigitte Blobel. It's called "Die Arnoldkinder retten das grosse Pferderennen" which is not based on any EB story (The Arnold Children save the big Horse Race). This one was released after 1969, but as it's a book club edition they are often not giving any information about when a book was published first. I remember it as pretty boring.

Hope this helps a bit.

Wolfgang wrote:Yes, Anita, they used Larry King instead of Prince Paul.

Was Miss Jones in other volumes, too?

Carlotta King wrote:Yeah, she was in Death On The Nile and in Evil Under The Sun.

Yes, now I remember she was in "Nile", had forgotten about "Evil". Thanks, Cathy.

Thanks for the further details of the German Secret series, Chrissie.

You're very welcome, Anita.

Really interesting to hear about the German series, but I'm afraid from the plot summaries (and the fact they bowdlerised The Adventurous Four books!) I'm rather glad I didn't have to read them and could read the proper versions instead!

I know I keep saying this, but I do believe that if a translator can't simply translate what the original author actually wrote (or as near to it as possible), they should just leave it alone... Honestly, a lot of these Blyton translators sound like they have even less respect for the integrity of her work than the editors in 2010 who rewrote (and dumbed down) the Famous Five!!

In fact, it's easy to see why the copyright holders don't apparently care about updates...its been happening for many, many years in other countries!