Malory Towers

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Malory Towers is a fictional Cornish seaside boarding school which features in a series of six novels by British children's author Enid Blyton.

The series follows the heroine Darrell Rivers from her first year at Malory Towers to when she leaves. Other characters include Sally Hope (Darrell's level-headed best friend), Felicity Rivers (Darrell's younger sister), Gwendoline Mary Lacey (the form's spoilt martyr), Alicia Johns (sharp tongued, competitive and intelligent), Mary-Lou (small and timid, but very kind hearted), Irene (scatterbrained music & math genius), Belinda (scatterbrained artistic genius), Jean (shrewd and straightforward) and Wilhelmina (Bill) (completely horse-mad).

The characters are very similar to the set of characters in the St Clare's series, which Blyton also wrote.

The series is believed to be semi-autobiographical,[citation needed] and the name "Darrell Rivers" is clearly drawn from Blyton's second husband's name, Kenneth Darrell Waters. It is also widely supposed that Blyton based the creation on the famous Scottish boarding school St Leonards School in St Andrews, which is, of course, the heroine’s University destination.

Contents

[edit] Story

Darrell, the main character, begins her career ingloriously. Determined to do well and make friends, she falls under the spell of the brilliant but mischievous Alicia Johns, neglecting her schoolwork in favour of fooling around and playing pranks on the staff. The reader is treated to an early exposition of her violent temper (inherited from her father) when she rescues Mary-Lou, a smaller, weaker girl in her form, who is being held under water by the malicious Gwendoline Mary Lacey, and delivers a stinging rebuke to Gwendoline with the flat of her hand. She rebuffs Mary-Lou's attempts to make friends, since she believes Mary-Lou to be feeble and unable to stand up for herself, and clashes with fellow new girl Sally Hope, who insists that she is an only child despite written and verbal assurances from Darrell's mother that she has an infant sister. This leads to another altercation, in which a violent shove from Darrell exacerbates Sally's smouldering appendicitis, forcing Darrell's father (a surgeon) to perform an impromptu appendectomy in the school's sick-bay. The experience of thinking that she has made Sally seriously ill, leads Darrell to a greater determination to conquer her temper. Sally's attitude is revealed as pathological jealousy, which is resolved by her parents leaving her infant sister behind to visit her. Sally and Mary-Lou later stand by Darrell during a malicious episode (orchestrated by Gwendoline) in which Darrell is unjustly accused of spitefully destroying Mary-Lou's fountain pen. The first book ends with Darrell and Sally being firm friends and Mary-Lou an associate.

Darrell's career from this point is smoother, and she eventually covers herself in the personal, scholastic and sporting glory that was originally expected of her. She is head of the fourth form, games captain of the fifth, and head-girl in her final year as well as being a successful lacrosse and tennis player. In all of the books she plays a pivotal role, though she is not always successful in her endeavours and indeed is temporarily stripped of her fourth-form captaincy (she is caught shaking a smaller girl who was threatening to reveal a misdeed of Darrell's out of personal spite), though she gets it back again by resolving a particularly complicated case of sibling rivalry. She is on friendly terms with most of her classmates and even makes her peace with Gwendoline Lacey at the end, when a personal tragedy strikes the vain, selfish class outcast.

At the end of her school career, Darrell is bound for the University of St Andrews. She charges her younger sister Felicity to uphold the standard that she and her classmates set.

[edit] Books

The six 'official' books of the series are:

  1. First Term at Malory Towers (1946)
  2. Second Form at Malory Towers (1947)
  3. Third Year at Malory Towers (1948)
  4. Upper Fourth at Malory Towers (1949)
  5. In the Fifth at Malory Towers (1950)
  6. Last Term at Malory Towers (1951)

The German translation of the series adds twelve books occurring after the sixth, with Darrell (in the German version: Dolly Rieder) returning to a college associated with Malory Towers ("Burg Möwenfels"), the "Möwennest" (Malory Nest). As the story develops she returns to Malory Towers, first as educator, then she becomes matron of the famous 'North Tower' where she resided as a child. She marries her former "Möwennest" teacher in German and Literature, has a baby girl (Katharina) and finally becomes headmistress of Malory Towers, after Miss Grayling (Frau Greiling) had been seriously injured in a traffic accident, and is unable to work any longer. Several other characters from the first six volumes appear again: Felicity (Felizitas), Darrell's sister, gets her A-Levels at Malory Towers and moves on to the Malory Nest. Later she marries one of Bill's brothers. Bill (Will) and her friend Clarissa take over the riding school of both Malory Towers and Malory Nest, Gwendoline (Evelyn) is a student at Malory Nest in Vols. 7 to 9, and Ellen returns to Malory Towers first as teacher, marries a colleague and succeeds Darrell as matron of the North Tower when Darrell becomes headmistress in Vol. 18. Vol. 14 ("Klassentreffen auf der Burg") is about a class reunion, with most of the characters from the first six volumes in attendance.

Although these books also bear the author's name Enid Blyton, they are not translations of any English books, and some serious fans question their authenticity and their right to be counted as 'canon'. The author who wrote these books is Rosemarie von Schach who uses several pseudonyms - such as Enid Blyton and Claudia Jones. She is best known as Tina Caspari and the likeness between Tina Caspari's books (most of them are about girls or horses) and the added Malory-Towers-books is striking.

There are also other some follow-ups in different languages, such as the Dutch books Pitty naar College and Artemis op Jacht. These catch up with Darrell's entrance at St. Andrews, adding a gay twist to the plot.

[edit] "Special Friends"

Of all of Blyton's work, Malory Towers is particularly known for the subtext of the relationships between the boarders, which often include high degrees of infatuation, jealousy and emotional entanglement. This is a common thread in boarding school stories, dating back over a hundred years, featuring both boys (e.g. Horace Vachell's The Hill - set at Harrow School just before the Boer War) and girls (particularly Angela Brazil's school stories and Dorita Fairlie Bruce's Dimsie sequence, both set in fictional institutions); and has been parodied in other works such as the contemporary Sugar Rush TV series, where the main character speaks about her crush on her schoolmate as an infatuation 'à la Malory Towers'.

Attribution of a homosexual subtext to some of these relationships (particularly that between the "boyish" short-haired Bill - Wilhelmina - Robinson and the very feminine Clarissa Carter) occurs among some readers. In the context of a society in which entertainment media images are highly sexualized (and the lesbianism or bisexuality of prominent female entertainers is openly and widely reported), Blyton's (and Brazil's and Fairlie-Bruce's) "special friendships" can be interpreted in ways that Blyton at least possibly did not intend; for example, close or special friends in Brazil's[1] and Fairlie-Bruce's[2] works are described kissing each other in a manner that implies more than just an isolated peck on the cheek or lips, while girls in Malory Towers tend more to walk around with arms linked, or to hold each other's hands, especially in times of emotional stress.[3] On the other hand, lesbian readers of the books would be more justified in so reinterpreting these "special friendships", particularly in the light of their own experiences and feelings.

[edit] Characters

Characters (with the forms they attend within the school during the series) include:

  • Darrell Rivers (Forms 1-6) The heroine, or protagonist. Many, but not all, of the events in the books are seen from her perspective or through her eyes.
  • Sally Hope (Forms 1-6)
  • Gwendoline Mary Lacey (Forms 1-6
  • Irene - no last name is given this character, despite her being one of the few characters to last through all the books. (Forms 1-6)
  • Emily Lake (although she is largely unnoticed, and not heard of from Form 3)(Forms 1-2)
  • Violet (although she is largely unnoticed, not heard of from Form 2)(Form 1)
  • Jean MacDonald (Forms 1-3)
  • Alicia Johns (Forms 1-6)
  • Betty Hill (Forms 1-6)
  • Mary-Lou - another major character distinguished by the lack of a surname. (Forms 1-6)
  • Katherine (Form 1) - head of the First Form in the first book, but goes straight up to the Third Form at the start of the second book. It is implied that she was kept from going up to the Second Form in order to be Head Girl, but no more is heard from her after the first chapter of the second book.
  • Belinda Morris (Forms 2-6)
  • Ellen Wilson (Form 2, later promoted into the form above Darrell)
  • Daphne Millicent Turner (Forms 2-6, although is heard from rarely since Form 5)
  • Wilhelmina Robinson (nickname Bill) (Forms 3-6)
  • Mavis (Forms 3-5) - was mentioned in the Sixth Form, but had already left after the Fifth to go to music college
  • Clarissa Carter (Forms 4-6)
  • June Johns (Forms 1-2 within the last three books)
  • Felicity Rivers (Forms 1-2 within the last three books)
  • Maureen Little (Forms 5-6)
  • Moira Linton (Forms 5-6)
  • Catherine Gray (Form 5) - also alluded as a fourth-former when Darrell is in the third form. A girl named 'Catherine' in the year above Darrell is mentioned in the book "Third Year At Malory Towers" as being in the same lacrosse team as Darrell temporarily, although it is uncertain whether or not they are the same person, as Catherine Gray is typecast as a "doormat" character who appears to have no interest in sport.
  • Amanda Chartelow (Form 6)
  • Jo(sephine) Jones (Form 1)Mentioned in book 6
  • Suzanne (French Exchange student, Form 6)
  • Zerelda Brass (US Exchange student, Form 3)
  • Pamela (Head girl when Darrell is in form 1).
  • Rita (Form 5)
  • Marilyn (Form 6)
  • Doris (Form 1)
  • Fanny (Form 1)
  • Georgina Thomas (A senior student when Darrell is in second form, and apparently known for her bad temper).
  • Winnie Toms
  • Connie Batten (Form 4; failed and repeated a year when her twin sister Ruth moved up.)
  • Ruth Batten (Forms 4 and 5)
  • Molly Ronaldson (Sixth Form when Darrell is in Form 3 - School Games Captain, a post later held by Sally Hope).
  • Susan (Forms 1 and 2) Felicity's best friend
  • Eileen(Great friends with Betty Hill and Alicia Johns).
  • Winnie(Great friends with Betty Hill and Alicia Johns).
  • Bridget Linton (Form 4 when Darrell is in Form 5 - Moira's younger sister).
  • Tessa
  • Janet
  • Penelope
  • Katie
  • Dora
  • Gladys
  • Lucy
  • Harriet
  • Christine
  • Gwyneth
  • Louella
  • Rachel
  • Pat & Rita
  • Vera
  • Miss Carton (Malory Towers history teacher)
  • Miss Williams (Malory Towers fourth-form mistress)
  • Miss Potts (also called by the girls in secret "Potty" - Malory Towers first-form mistress)
  • Miss Grayling (Malory Towers headmistress)
  • Miss Winter (Gwendoline Lacey's governess)
  • Mam'zelle Dupont (French teacher, North Tower staff)
  • Mam'zelle Rougier (French teacher, South Tower staff).{| class="wikitable"
  • Mr & Mrs Hope(Sally Hope's parent,mentioned in the first and fourth books)
  • Mr & Mrs Rivers (Darrell's parents)
  • Mr & Mrs Lacey (Gwen's parents)
  • Mr Young (Malory Towers music teacher)
  • Miss Linnie (Malory Towers art teacher and sewing mistress)
  • Miss Remmington (Malory Towers sports mistress)
  • Miss Terry
  • Miss Parker (Malory Towers second-form mistress)
  • Miss Peters (Malory Towers third-form mistress)
  • Miss Oakes (Malory Towers sixth-form mistress)
  • Mr Sutton (woodworking master, not generally popular with higher forms but liked by Bill Robinson, whom he encourages)
  • Mr Lemming
  • Miss James (Malory Towers fifth-form mistress)
  • Miss Cherry
  • Miss Greening (drama elocution mistress)
  • Pops (the handyman, possibly in charge of several unnamed grounds staff featured in book 2)

[edit] Similar books

Blyton wrote two other series about life at a boarding school: St. Clare's and the Naughtiest Girl series.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Brazil, For The Sake of the School, multiple publishers
  2. ^ Fairlie-Bruce, Dimsie Moves Up Again, multiple publishers
  3. ^ First Term at Malory Towers, multiple editions and publishers

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Enid Blyton
The Adventure Series (1944-1950)  · The Barney Mystery Series (1949-1959)  · The Circus Series (1938-1952)  · The Famous Five (1942-1963)  · The Five Find-Outers (1943-61)  · The Magic Faraway Tree series (1939-1951)  · Mary Mouse (1942-1964)  · Malory Towers (1946-1951)  · The Mistletoe Farm series (1948-1950)  · Naughtiest Girl series (1940-1952)  · Noddy (1949-63)  · The Secret Seven (1949-63)  · St. Clare's series (1941-43)  · Wishing Chair series (1937-2000)