Malory Towers

Malory Towers
First Term at Malory Towers
Second Form at Malory Towers
Third Year at Malory Towers
Upper Fourth at Malory Towers
In the Fifth at Malory Towers
Last Term at Malory Towers
Author Enid Blyton
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Children's literature, bildungsroman
Published 1946–1951
No. of books 6 (in the original series)

Malory Towers is a series of six novels by English children's author Enid Blyton, featuring the fictional Cornish seaside boarding school of the same name. In 2009 six more books were added to the series by author Pamela Cox, who has also made additions to Enid Blyton's St Clare's series. The school is based on the girls' boarding school Benenden School that Blyton's daughter attended, and that relocated during the war to the Cornish seaside.

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, intelligent and class joker), Mary-Lou (small and timid, but very kind hearted), Irene (scatterbrained music genius), Belinda Morris (scatterbrained artistic genius), Jean MacDonald (shrewd and straightforward), Wilhelmina 'Bill' Robinson and Clarissa Carter (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, and the name "Darrell Rivers" is clearly drawn from Blyton's second husband's name, Kenneth Darrell Waters.

Story

Darrell Rivers, the main character, begins her school life ingloriously at Malory Towers in Cornwall. 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 shakes Gwendoline roughly. 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 (June) who was threatening to reveal the secret of a midnight feast held by the fourth formers 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 life, Darrell is bound for the University of St Andrews with her best friend Sally Hope. She charges her younger sister Felicity to uphold the standard that she and her classmates set.

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)

Pamela Cox wrote six sequels in 2009 which focus on the adventures of Felicity Rivers , Susan Blake and June Johns:

  1. New Term at Malory Towers (2009)
  2. Summer Term at Malory Towers (2009)
  3. Winter Term at Malory Towers (2009)
  4. Fun and Games at Malory Towers (2009)
  5. Secrets at Malory Towers (2009)
  6. Goodbye Malory Towers (2009)

German translations

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—literally "Seagulls' 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, Ralph. 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.

Main characters

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

Name Nickname Appeared in Form Note
Darrell Rivers Darrell Form 1–6 The heroine, or protagonist. Her athletic prowess are matched by her academic achievements. She works very hard and can't do well until she gives her best, unlike Alicia. When she fooled around with Alicia she did very badly in her studies. Many, but not all, of the events in the books are seen from her perspective or through her eyes. She gets a friend – Alicia – until a quarrel at the end of the first book, then her best friend is Sally. She has a hot temper but tries to control it. After she flies into one of her tempers and has time to reflect, she apologises profusely to the person against whom she lost her temper. Alicia and Betty make fun of her 'glint' which she apparently gets before exploding. She has a talent for writing stories and lyrics for songs – author of the fifth form pantomime. In the sixth form she becomes head girl of the whole school
Sally Hope Sally Form 1–6 Sally Hope first appears in the first book. Initially sulky and rude, she doesn't try to make friends with anybody, and vice versa. After Darrell helps clear a misunderstanding between Sally and her mother, the two become best friends. Sally becomes more likeable after this, and she becomes very loyal towards Darrell. She is serious, calm, quiet and sensible.The biggest fault in her is her jealousy towards people for example in the first form she was jealous of her younger sister because she thought that it is her younger sister because of whom she had to come in a boarding school so that her parents could give more attention to her younger sister than her. She is good at sports, moderate at studies,and responsible. She is the head girl of the second form, and the sports captain in the sixth.
Alicia Johns Alicia Forms 1–6 An active, smart, brave and playful girl like her mother, who often play pranks on teachers and friends especially Mam'zelle Dupont, the likeable French teacher. At the start of the second novel, she seems to dislike Sally. This turns out to be caused by jealousy. In the beginning she wants to be head girl but loses interest later on when she realises she is not suitable. In the first form she is Darrell's friend. Although later Sally becomes Darrell's best friend, Alicia remains a close friend. Alicia loves to tease Gwen and the irritatingly weak girls a lot. Her incredibly sharp tongue and sharp mind always defeat Gwen. She does well in her studies. She suffers from measles during the School Certificate exam and faints meaning she has to write the exam again. Before this Alicia has never fallen sick and made fun of those who become ill easily. This reduces after the measles but doesn't stop. Plays Demon King, a conjurer, in the fifth form pantomime. Alicia is a hard, determined kind of person. She is very good in both sports and lessons and has a talent for swimming along with her friend Betty.
Gwendoline Mary Lacey Gwendoline, Gwen, Dear Gwendoline Mary Forms 1–6 The spoilt one of the form, who always entertains the girls at the start of the term with a crying fit from her mum (Alicia copies her and sneers). Her surname in the first two books is given as "Lacey", but from the third book onwards the spelling is changed to "Lacy." She is described as thin and blonde in the first form, and in at the start of Upper Fourth as fat and spotty. In the first form she holds Mary-Lou under the water in the pool and is slapped by Darrell. She makes a huge fuss over it; she rubs cold cream into her legs and refuses to accept Darrell's apology. She also smashes Mary-Lou's pen and lets Darrell take the blame. She is shown to be incredibly superficial, sucking up to Daphne when she is new and believed to be well-off but later drops Daphne as a friend when it turns out she is a thief. In the next book she attempts to ingratiate herself with the Honourable Clarissa Carter and claims herself to have a weak heart but just alienates herself from Clarissa who truly does have a weak heart. Gwen is often in trouble with her father, who tries to support her but she continually angers him by getting into trouble; in the final book, he gets an illness which nearly kills him, and which is implied to have been caused by his inability to cope with Gwen's behaviour any longer. The emotional and financial repercussions of this tragedy see Gwen having to face the harsh realities of life when she is forced to leave Malory Towers and get a job to support her parents due to her father's inability to return to work. She makes up with Darrell before leaving, and the letter she sends her suggests that Gwen has started redeeming herself.
Irene Irene Form 1–6 No last name is given this character, despite her being one of the few characters to last through all the books (Forms 1–6). Irene is a scatterbrain and befriends Belinda Morris. She is a genius at music and has a talent for maths. She has the annoying habit of forgetting the everyday things – like Belinda – as said first in the beginning of the first book of the series 'if anyone would show up to class at the wrong time; it would be Irene'. She is always forgetting her Health Certificate which all the girls laugh at, though it makes matron highly annoyed.
Belinda Morris Belinda Forms 2–6 Belinda is Irene's best friend and has a talent for art. She gets into trouble in second form for drawing comical pictures of a feud between the two Mamz'elles. She is a scatter-brained like her best friend Irene. Like Alicia she too teases Gwen and keeps a book to record Gwen's scowls.
Betty Hill Betty Forms 1–6 Is also one for tricks. Betty is Alicia's best friend. She is in West Tower. Miss Grayling declines a parental request to move her to North Tower, because it is felt she and Alicia closer together will cause trouble.
Emily Lake Emily Form 1–2 Emily is quiet and likes sewing. Darrell takes her out for half-term as she doesn't have a special friend of her own. Emily likes Darrel's parents a lot and enjoys herself relating the Darrell-Gwendoline episode. In the second book, her gold bar brooch goes missing. When Daphne is found out to be the thief, she agrees on giving her a second chance. She isn't heard of from Form 3.
Violet Violet Form 1 Violet is described as a shy and colourless child who is much left out of things because she never seemed to have interest in them. She is rarely heard from and only seen in the first book when she walks in with Mary-Lou, who sees her fountain-pen smashed.
Jean MacDonald Jean Forms 1–5 A strong willed Scottish girl. She appears to like gardening in the first book 'First term at Malory Towers' – when Gwen is plotting a mean plan against Mary-Lou, Darrell and Alicia, she appears in the school garden watering plants. Rebukes Darrell for being harsh to Mary-Lou. Also known for her ability to handle money for clubs and charities. Her most notable storylines included befriending Ellen Wilson (despite Ellen initially being verbally abusive towards her) in the second form and later defending Ellen against Alicia during a massive row that broke out after Alicia falsely accused Ellen of theft without proof. While generally on good terms with Alicia, she is one of the few girls in the form who is not afraid to stand up to her on occasions when Alicia is being unreasonable. She was the head girl of Darrell's third form; however, this fell into jeopardy after she failed to report that Mavis had not come to bed and instead played truant and gone to a concert in a nearby town, and Mavis was later found to have collapsed at the roadside about five miles away (Jean had been worried that she would herself get in trouble for telling tales if she reported Mavis, and failed to make the distinction between "sneaking" and reporting wrongdoing). Miss Grayling threatened to strip of her position, but Jean's support of Mavis through her illness redeemed her and Miss Grayling agreed to let her continue as head girl. In the fourth novel, she is said to have passed the school cert and is in a higher form.
Mary-Lou Mary-Lou Forms 1–6 Mary-Lou is a timid and quiet girl. After Darrell saves her when Gwen holds her under the water in the pool for way too long in the first book, she becomes her companion and rather likes her and Sally. When Darrell is accused of smashing her pen, that night she thinks "Something's not quite right, Gwen changed into slippers instead of her shoes, so I'd better have a look." and lo and behold, Gwen's shoes have ink all over them. See heh, Katherine? Sally and Darrell accept Mary-Lou and take her on a friend. She likes Daphne because of her charming looks and ways. Eventually becomes one of school's biggest successes and leaves to train as nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Katherine 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 to be Head Girl, but no more is heard from her after the first chapter of the second book.
Ellen Wilson Ellen Form 2–4 A scholarship girl who, in fact, wasn't very clever. She was overworked from studying for the scholarship she had headaches, becomes snappish and irritable and had no real friends. Despite Ellen being very nasty to her at times, she eventually formed an unlikely friendship with Jean, who took pity on her after she became ill shortly before the exams, and publically defended Ellen during a row with Alicia. Her works in Malory Towers were not up to standard, and the fear of failing the exams after her illness made Ellen decide to cheat. After this was discovered by the headmistress Miss Grayling, Ellen was given a second chance. In the third book, she was moved up to the form ahead of Darrell, and was seen to be more cheerful and friendly after this. Jean and Ellen were reunited in the fourth book, when Jean passed her School Certificate a year early, and was also moved up a form.
Daphne Millicent Turner Daphne Forms 2–5 Gwen's former 'best friend', whom Gwen sucked up to because she was beautiful and, as she claimed, a millionaire. Mary Lou also liked her and helps in her French. Although at first Daphne was only using Mary Lou to help her French work, she gradually felt a genuine liking for her. In the end of the second book, she saved Mary Lou's life, who had gone off to post Daphne's parcel during a storm and was almost thrown off a cliff; after which Daphne was discovered to be a liar (as she wasn't a millionaire), and a thief (too poor to buy nice things, she stole them from her classmates). Mary Lou stood up for her, and encouraged the other second formers to let Daphne stay- which they did. The two becomes best friends and later forms a threesome with Mavis in the fourth book.
Wilhelmina Robinson Bill Forms 3–6 Willful and head-strong, Wilhelmina is a fan of horses. Arrives in third form. Is a Tomboy, an only girl with seven brothers, who adores her horse, Thunder. She also insists on being called Bill.Rude to teachers, disobedient,she can't stay out of trouble for the love of her horse, Thunder. Becomes a close friend of Miss Peters after the teacher helps save Thunder from serious colic. Becomes friends with Clarissa Carter, also a good rider and horse enthusiast.
Mavis Allyson Mavis Forms 3–6 First introduced in the third book, Mavis is a talented and well-trained singer. At first, she was very conceited with her singing talent and was always saying, "When I'm an opera singer..."- exasperating her class mates very much. Later in the book, she got ill and lost her voice- where she learns to be sensible. She becomes friends with Zerelda at the end of the book. However, Zerelda left and she hung with Mary Lou and Daphne afterwards and was accepted by the others. She got her voice back in the middle of the fourth book, but was no longer conceited. Darrel tried to get her and Daphne to befriend Clarissa and help her escape Gwendoline's clutches but they were both unsuccessful in their attempts since Gwendoline had poisoned Clarissa against both of them. Was the chief singer in the Fifth Form Pantomime and also trained other less experienced singers. Left the term previous to Darrell's final one to go to a music college.
Clarissa Carter Clarissa Forms 4–6 Clarissa is a small, unattractive girl with glasses and braces who has a heart problem and also loves horses. Recovers her health and improves her appearance by losing glasses and braces. She befriends Wilhelmina 'Bill' Robinson. Brings her own horse Merrylegs to school the next term and rides with Bill and Thunder. Her weak heart is where Gwendoline got her idea to fake heart problems and get out of the school cert comes from. In the 5+ books she is a very attractive girl with long, wavy, auburn hair and stunning green eyes.
June Johns June 1–6 Appeared within the last three books of the main Malory Towers books, she is Alicia Johns' cousin and has all of Alicia's bad points and very few of her good. Bold, cheeky and feisty June loves to play tricks, has a very quick brain and a sharp tongue, with a great talent in swimming and tennis, although she doesn't seem to take any of these seriously. Her sports talent was spotted by a new sixth former, Amanda Chartelow, in the sixth book. Amanda decided to train June, but June disliked Amanda and after a row with her, quits her training. She later saved Amanda's life, who was swimming in the dangerous sea nearby and was almost killed by the currents. Amanda later thanks June, and June realised that they have both been foolish over the trainings. June decided to work on her sports seriously and made it to the second teams in swimming and tennis. She promised Alicia to 'carry the standard of Malory Towers high' when Alicia leaves the school.
Felicity Rivers Felicity 1–6 Was introduced since the first book, but she came to Malory Towers only in Darrell's fourth year. She is very like Darrell, though much shyer. At the beginning of her first term in Malory Towers, she befriends the quick-witted, amusing June Jones. Darrell disapproved of Felicity's friendship with June as she neither like nor trusts June. In the fourth book, June got Darrell and the fourth formers in trouble, and Felicity, angry and disgusted, abandoned June and befriends Susan instead. When June was almost expelled in the fifth novel for writing poisonous letters to a fifth former, Moira, Felicity sympathises with her and asked the fifth formers to talk to Miss Grayling, the headmistress, to let June stay. In the sixth book, she seems to be on friendly terms with June again, and they formed a threesome with Susan.
Maureen Little Maureen Forms 5–6 Arrives in fifth form after previous school, Mazely Manor closed down. She was very like Gwendoline- lazy, spoilt and conceited. She also hated games, swimming and walks, like Gwen. Darrell, and some other fifth formers decided to pair her off with Gwendoline but Gwendoline didn't like her.
Moira Linton Moira Forms 5–6 Moira was left down in the fifth form and can be rather domineering. Head girl of the fifth form, and the self-appointed producer of the pantomime, she was very unpopular. When June Johns was discovered to have written poisonous letters to her, and was about to be expelled, Moira stood up for the first former and gained more admiration and liking from the other girls ever since. She is also interested in sports, and forgets to be domineering when discussing about them.

She helps Darrell, who was the Sports captain in the fifth form, and in the sixth form, helps Sally.

Catherine Gray Catherine, Saint Catherine Form 5 Left down in the fifth form with Moira and Janet, Catherine is the form's 'doormat'/martyr, who is always trying to do help others by offering to do their chores, being self-sacrificing and understanding. The other girls detested her martyr ways and called her Saint Catherine.
Amanda Chartelow Amanda Form 6 Is good at sport. Her last school got burned down (Trenigan Towers- well known for its excellent sports program) and she was going to enter the Olympics the next year. She takes on coaching of June in swimming and tennis, until they have a big row. Unfortunately, she tries to swim out to sea, damages her muscles and almost drowns. June saves her and puts an end to her boastful attitude.
Josephine Jones Jo Form 1 Mentioned in book 6. Fat and spoilt by rich family – particularly her father, unpopular. Expelled after stealing money from Matron's safe and running away with first former Deirdre. Returns to Malory Towers under a different name: Alice, in Pamela Cox's Secrets At Malory Towers and Goodbye, Malory Towers
Suzanne Suzanne Form 6 A French exchange student. Niece of Mamzelle Rougier. She doesn't know how to speak English well. Gets out of games every time thanks to the doting Mam'zelle.
Zerelda Brass Zerelda Form 3 A US Exchange student, she believes she has acting skills. Demoted from fourth form to third and eventually shown by Miss Hibbert that she has no acting talent. Her real talent is story telling and comedy, and she befriends Mavis. She went back to America in the fourth novel but was mentioned again as one of Gwendoline's former "Friends".
Pamela Pamela Form 1 Head girl when Darrell is in form 1.
Rita Rita Form 5
Marilyn Marilyn Form 6 Sports Captain when Darrell was in the First Form
Doris Doris Form 1 Twin sister of Fanny. Described as 'too pious for words'.
Fanny Fanny Form 1 Twin sister of Doris. Described as 'too pious for words'.
Georgina Thomas George Form 2 A senior student when Darrell is in second form, and apparently known for her bad temper. Belinda mistakenly picks up her nightcase and finds her nice pyjamas.
Winnie Toms Winnie Form 2–4 She was one of the candidates for head girl when in Form 2. She went to the midnight feast in Form 4.
Connie Batten Connie Form 4 Failed and repeated a year when her twin sister Ruth moved up. Domineers over her twin, Ruth. Tries to make Ruth fail exam so they can stay together in fourth form rather than Ruth moving up into fifth.
Ruth Batten Ruth Forms 4–5 Connie's twin sister. Perpetrator of range of nasty tricks played on Connie, which Darrell discovers is in frustration at being controlled by Connie for so long. It is unknown what happens to the twins after the Fifth form, as they are not mentioned at all in the last book, and Ruth's involvement in the Fifth becomes sporadic towards the end of the fifth book.
Molly Ronaldson Molly Sixth Form when Darrell is in Form 3 – School Games Captain. She was well liked by the girls as she bothered to help those who were less able at sports, however Zerelda dislikes her.
Susan Blake Susan Forms 1–6 Felicity's best friend. She is good at gymnastics and has a sense of humour. She was the head girl of the fourth form and the deputy head girl. She is fond of Tennis and enjoys swimming. She is entered for the swimming gala and also the big important tennis match at the Summerfield school. She also is in a lacrosse competition against Marlowe Hall.She joins Malory Towers 2 terms before Felicity.
Eileen
Bridget Linton Bridget Form 4 Form 4 when Darrell is in Form 5, she is Moira's younger sister, detests her and her bad temper.
Janet Janet Form 5 The third girl left behind in the fifth form, along with Moira and Catherine, because she was too young to be in the sixth form. She has a talent in sewing and dress-making and was in charge of the costumes in the fifth-formers' pantomime.

Background characters

Similar books

Blyton wrote two other series about life at a boarding school: St. Clare's and the Naughtiest Girl series as well as many other adventure and fantasy stories.

References

    External links