Malory Towers

Malory Towers

Book 1 of the series
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. 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 protagonist, Darrell Rivers on her adventures and experiences in Malory Towers. The protagonist Darrell Rivers' name is clearly drawn from Blyton's second husband's name, Kenneth Darrell Waters.

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 underwater by the malicious Gwendoline Mary Lacey, and slaps Gwendoline hard and when Katherine, the head-girl, rebukes her, she snaps at her, too. A few minutes later, Darrell is ashamed and apologizes to Katherine who accepts the apology and admires Darrell for doing that but says she has to apologize to Gwen as well. Darrell says she already has, but Gwen says she didn't, but Katherine and the others take Darrell's word for that 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, and Darrell shoves Sally across the room. Later that evening, she doesn't turn up for dinner and says she's got a pain in her tummy which turns out to be appendicitis. Darrell is in a real panic, thinking she caused it, but Darrell's father (a surgeon) performs an impromptu appendectomy in the school's sick-bay and then explains that appendicitis could not be caused by a fall. 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, and Mary-Lou clears Darrell's name by conquering her fear of the dark. 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.