Malory Towers Books Series
Robyn Ruder
Malory Towers is a series of six novels by English author Enid Blyton. The series is based on a girls' boarding school that Blyton's daughter attended, Benenden School, which relocated during World War II to the Hotel Bristol in Newquay, Cornwall.[1] The series follows the protagonist, Darrell Rivers, on her adventures and experiences in boarding school. Darrell Rivers' name was inspired by that of Blyton's second husband, Kenneth Darrell Waters.
Darrell Rivers begins her first year at Malory Towers, a castle-like clifftop boarding school in Cornwall. She meets sharp-tongued, cheeky Alicia, musical genius Irene and timid Mary-Lou. Determined to do well and make friends, Darrell's first term is turbulent. Her temper causes problems and her efforts at playing the fool backfire. Another new girl is Gwendoline Mary Lacey, who turns out to be vain, shallow and prone to occasional spitefulness and bullying. The Malory Towers stories largely centre on the intertwined stories of Darrell and Gwendoline, along with Alicia Johns, Sally Hope and Mary-Lou. The first book ends with Darrell finding a best friend in Sally Hope.[2][3]
The girls move into the Second form at Malory Towers with a new form mistress, Miss Parker, and three new girls. In an eventful term, new tricks are played on the teachers and the girls make the unpleasant discovery that there is a thief in their midst. Among the newcomers, Belinda delights the other girls with her sharply drawn caricature drawings, while Ellen worries about her position in the form and overworks herself. The third new girl is Daphne, who is not all she seems and is involved in a dramatic cliff top rescue on a stormy night.[4][5]
Darrell and her friends are now in the Third Form, alongside more new girls. American girl Zerelda has ambitions to be a film star, while Wilhelmina, known to all as Bill, is obsessed with horses. We also meet Mavis, who has a beautiful singing voice, which she foolishly risks when she attends a local talent contest and finds herself stranded at night outside the school in a rainstorm. Darrell has a smaller role in this story, mainly centred around her inclusion in a school lacrosse team. [6][7]
Sibling relationships are a theme of the fourth book, with the arrival at Malory Towers of Darrell's younger sister Felicity, Alicia's younger cousin June, and twins Connie and Ruth Batten. The fourth formers are working hard for the tough School Certificate examination, which quick-brained Alicia finds unexpectedly hard when she succumbs to measles. Darrell is Head Girl of the form, but is forced to resign when her temper gets the better of her once more. A sickly new girl, Clarissa, gives Gwendoline the idea of avoiding the examination by affecting a heart condition, which leads to a bitter confrontation with her appalled father.[8][9]
The Fifth Form is asked to produce the school Christmas entertainment, which they decide should be the pantomime Cinderella. Darrell is the lead writer and Irene composes the music, while lead roles are taken by Alicia, Mary-Lou and Bill. Gwen finds herself much in the company of new girl Maureen who, to her discomfort, shares many of her vain and shallow traits. The Head Girl of the Fifth is the hard and domineering Moira, which creates much friction between the girls before matters are resolved and the show is triumphantly staged. Darrell realises she has a talent for writing and that this may be her future career. [10][11]
In her final year, Darrell is now Head Girl of the school. In a frank exchange with Miss Grayling, they agree that the only real failure in Darrell's year is Gwendoline, and Darrell undertakes to do what she can to try and set Gwen on a more positive path before it is too late. But Gwen is destined to get a huge shock that forces her to re-evaluate her future and bitterly regret some cruel words to her father. New girl Amanda finds herself in danger when she attempts to swim in the sea beyond the safe waters of the school pool, while second former Jo runs away from the school after stealing money from Matron.[12][13]
The second series of six books follows Felicity, Darrell's younger sister, from her third year to her final term. Sally's younger sister, Daffy, eventually joins the school when Felicity and her friends are in the sixth form. The final book of the new series, Goodbye Malory Towers, sees the return of the original cast, including Darrell, Sally, and Alicia, for a school reunion, and the addition of Gwendoline Mary Lacey to the teaching staff.
Enid Blyton's elder daughter Gillian joined Benenden School in the autumn of 1945. The school had relocated from its original site in Kent during World War II to the Hotel Bristol in Newquay, Cornwall.[14]
Although Gillian was only at the Cornish location of Benenden School for one term before it moved back to its original location in Kent, several local features are believed to have inspired aspects of the Malory Towers stories. These include the coastal location of the school, the coastal swimming pool at Dancing Ledge in Dorset, and Lulworth Castle, also in Dorset, which is a very close match for the description of Malory Towers in the first book and is approximately 15 miles from Swanage, which Blyton visited annually.[15]
Commenters have also remarked on the parallels between Gillian's school life, as recorded in her diaries, and the plots of the Malory Towers books. It is even suggested that the Malory Towers stories were Blyton's way of communicating with her daughter and providing counsel.[16] The similarities include Darrell's temper, interests in an acting career, and obsessions with horses. As with Darrell in the books, Gillian's father was also a surgeon.
The plotline in "Third Year" that introduces the character Zerelda Brass, who has aspirations to become an actress, also has a parallel in Gillian's diaries.[18] A memo in the back of her 1946 diary reads:
She saw a big, square looking building of soft grey stone standing high up on a hill. The hill was really a cliff, that fell steeply down to the sea. At each end of the gracious building stood rounded towers. Darrell could glimpse other towers as well, making four in all. North Tower, South, East and West.
Each tower acts as a boarding house and provides accommodation for about 60 girls, ten in each year group. There is a Matron in each tower and a House Mistress in overall charge. The towers have four storeys, with kitchen, dining hall and common rooms on the ground floor, dormitories on the first and second floors, and staff rooms and storage are on the top floor.
The school forms a square with a courtyard in the middle. The sides of the school are three storeys high. The front of the building, between the east and south towers, has the main entrance, gymnasium, assembly hall, laboratories and art room. The classrooms are between the west and the north towers. Between the north and east towers are the sanitorium and the headmistress's rooms. The mistress's rooms are between the south and west tower.
The German version, published in the 1960s and 1970s underwent substantial changes to catch up with time (e.g. turntables instead of gramophones), to better resemble German grammar schools (playing handball instead of lacrosse). Furthermore, there were changes to character names - for instance, Darrell was re-named Dolly. From 1977 to 1997, twelve sequel books were published, telling Dolly's further life which always stays close to the school: after studying at a partner university, she works as a house mistress, marries one of the teachers, and has a child of her own. The story ends in the 18th book with old Miss Grayling's dignified retirement - and Dolly as her successor.
A stage production written and directed by Emma Rice and her company Wise Children has been touring theatres in 2019. It is a co-production with York Theatre Royal, in association with the Bristol Old Vic.[20]
In 2019, it was announced that a television adaptation was being produced for British television channel CBBC, in association with Canada's Family Channel. It was developed by Rachel Flowerday, who had previously worked on the television series Father Brown, and Sasha Hails.[21] It specifically included a cast with members of BAME communities and actors with facial disfigurements. It premiered on 23 March 2020. Season 1 has 13 half-hour episodes about Darrell's first year at Malory Towers.
Have you read this series or any of the individual books? How do you find them in comparison to other school series (by Blyton or other authors)? Which are some of your favourite school series/books? Looking forward to you thoughts and recommendations!
Malory Towers is a series of remarkable books by distinguished author Enid Blyton. The ones that I have read were published in 2016 by Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. There are 12 books in this series, each one packed with new and exciting adventures.
An interesting aspect about Malory Towers is that halfway through the series the main protagonist changes. Just as Darrell is about to graduate, we are introduced to her younger sister Felicity. Felicity goes on to have many adventures of her own, and very much like her sister, makes her school proud.
Reading the stories, I love all the twists and unexpected actions in each of the books that make the series captivating and compelling. The thorough descriptions of the characters and scenery make me feel as if I have lived in Malory Towers all my life. Moreover, the stories have a positive impression on the reader as they focus on important personal characteristics such as independence, determination, compassion and kindness.
After the arrival at their new school, Darrell meets Mary-Lou, a shy and timid girl. This was just the beginning of a new friendship. Of course Darrell has made lots of other friends such as Alicia whose sense of humour is much admired by her fellow classmates.
As well as having friends, Darrell also makes some enemies such as Gwendoline. This girl is disliked by most pupils in North Tower and had never been to school before. Due to this, Gwendoline has never come across a school report and lies to her parents how well she is doing. When she discovers a school report, Gwendoline puts her head down and works hard!