Enid Blyton: The Biography

While I remember the 'Read with Dick and Jane' series of books as the first books I read, I credit Enid Blyton and her many series with developing my love of reading as a child. Her poetry and her stories drew me as no other author had, and I could not get enough of her books. Thankfully, she wrote voraciously and the multiple series helped me develop an appreciation for different types of stories and poems. I still have some of my old Enid Blyton books and will occasionally still lift one from the shelves to indulge in a favorite childhood escape. The delight I find in her stories have not dimmed even as I have aged and moved on to more 'adult' books.This biography, based on research through interviews with members of her family, friends and employees in addition to extracts from surviving documents and diaries, have given me a glimpse into the woman behind the author. Her life was very different from what I had imagined for her. I had not known how much of a philanthropist she was, and how her efforts to aid various charities through her army of fans around the world resulted in some amazing donations and assistance. That she took the time to answer letters written to her by children even as she became more and more busy with her professional writing touched a chord in me. What a thrill it must have been for a child to receive a handwritten note from her answering their questions or thanking them for the dead bird they sent.I find it interesting that the critics of her works were from, and continue to come from adults, not the children who to this day, consume them by the millions. Perhaps these nosy and noisy adults should focus on the most important thing about Enid Blyton's books .... and that is, she's still, even now, getting children to read. And here's another thought, J.K Rowling has said in interviews that she grew up reading Enid Blyton books...and look how she's managed to entice children to read today.In reading this biography, I've come to love Enid Blyton for the woman she was, I thank her for giving me an outlet for my imagination to flourish and for building fantastical worlds filled with wizards, fairies, pixies, adventure, fun while imparting moral lessons to strengthen what my parents taught me.

For me Enid Blyton was the wall-paper of my childhood. I loved her books and read more than I can count - but never really thought about her other than as a woman who wrote some great stories. But she was so much more.Reading this book gave me a huge and wonderful insight into this talented, tenacious and prolific author.I have gained insight into what drove Enid, into her personal story, and into the remarkable things she achieved in her lifetime.I thoroughly recommend this book not only for those who are familiar with Enid's work and love it but for those who have heard only of the controversy around her books, or indeed for any aspiring writer or anyone who wants a peak into a life of a truly prolific and successful author.She was an incredibly talented and hard worker and an amazingly inspiring woman.

Like most Americans, I was never exposed to Enid Blyton as a child. But after my marriage I traveled to India, where, no surprise, I discovered her boarding school books--St. Clare's and Mallory Towers. Blyton was incredibly prolific! It is no surprise to me to learn that her first marriage suffered because of her drive, nor that she was a less than perfect mother. She was fortunate to have been born at a time when domestic help liberated her from domestic duties.This book attempts at an even-handed look at Blyton. It includes several appendices, which critique the subject more bluntly than the author wished to do. The tale of Blyton's life ends on a happy note (to me), and I am glad I read the book to the very end.

If you grew up in England from the '40s to the '80s, you will probably have read many Enid Blyton books. She was the world's most prolific and successful children's novelist (more so than J K Rowling, on many counts). Her books of rather upper class children who somehow managed to get away for a hiking or caravan holiday on their own, and solve mysteries usually involving secret passages are exquisitely written. But her personal life reflected the child-like world which she was such a genius at depicting through her books. I thought this book was well-researched, gave a very balanced view of Enid Blyton and threw new light on her many enigmas. Recommended.

I approve of this definitive biography. I only wish that it had her memoir attached to it. Other than that, it was very informative.

For those of us who grew up with her books, why would you not want to know more about the writer. Easy to read and informative about a successful and interesting writer. It goes over her childhood and schooling and her talking about her creative process.

The biography was just like Enid Blyton books, which I grew up with. She was a child before, attended boarding school and she also teach children. Her life experience was a valuable source to her works. I wish Kindle have "The Six Bad Boys". A real reflection of Enid Blyton life experience.

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Many will think of Blyton with affection. I grew up with her books; nature stories, Noddy, Famous Five, Mallory Towers, Secret Seven. I devoured them all with pleasure. Later, I found it difficult to understand how an author could divide opinion to the extent that her work was deemed unacceptable by the BBC and many local authorities banned her books from their libraries.Nonetheless, she remains a much published author. She is the world's fourth most translated author, behind Agatha Christie, Jules Verne and William Shakespeare. From 2000 to 2010, she was listed as a Top Ten author, selling almost 8 million copies. Quite an achievement for someone who died in 1968 and whose output was some 600 (allegedly racist, xenophobic, sexist and simplistic) books for children. For these reasons, I was interested to learn more about the person behind the 'Blyton' name. Barbara Stoney's biography certainly provides intelligent and thoughtful insight into key facts and events around her life. It's an interesting read although I found it rather clinical and lacking in warmth or empathy. But given her subject's ambivalent and often detached view of her own children, maybe it's an honest and compassionate account. I enjoyed it. It should appeal to any reader with even a passing recall of Blyton's astonishing output. Well researched, it provides an inkling into why her appeal is increasing nearly 50 years after her death.

I was hoping that this was going to tell me lots of interesting stuff about Enid Blyton other than the widely held knowledge that she was a 'complex character'. I guess that I'd been hoping that there would be an explanation for her complex character or an explanation for the way she behaved and lived her life. There wasn't really. I didn't learn a great deal new. I suppose that this is partly due to the fact that Ms Blyton left very little first hand evidence about her life, behaviour, thoughts other than the enormous amount of writing she did for your young children. Perhaps that just makes her more inquisitive. The book was not confabulated with 'perhaps', 'maybe', 'it might be' the story was told with the evidence available - that was limited and, therefore, the book doesn't really add a great to deal to one's understanding of her life. Having said that, it's nicely written and worth a read. It won't take you long.

I read Enid Blyton's books when I was a child. I reveled in the world of the 'Secret Seven' and the 'Famous Five'. Some years ago, when working as a school Librarian, I took the same books off the library shelf and replaced them with more modern children's authors. Now books shops, school and public libraries are putting Enid Blyton's books back on their shelves. Children want to read them.What is the appeal of Enid Blyton's books to this new generation of children? Children love stories, especially stories where children are the main characters. Children love stories in which children are having adventures. Children love stories where they come out on top, solving the mystery without the help of adults, showing that they are as smart, or smarter than adults.Barbara Stoney relates the life of Enid Blyton, her uneasy childhood, her early discovery of a love of writing and her career, spanning 60 years, as a published children's author of magazines and books. Stoney's biography does describe Enid Blyton - her capacity for work, her rise to fame and wealth, her social projects, her family life and her last years. However, it is not the biography that brings Blyton to life, but the Appendices, especially Appendix 8, where In a series of letters to Professor Peter McKellar, late Professor of Psychology at Otago University, New Zealand, Enid Blyton explains her imaginary process, how her stories come to her complete with characters and plot before she starts writing. Because of this she was able to write her books very fast, somtimes writing more than 4000 words per day. Enid Blyton says as much about herself as does the biography of Barbara Stoney.

I had heard a lot about Enid Blyton and some of it was untrue. (that she was a bad mother). I found the book very interesting, also it was interesting to read how Enid got some of her names for her characters in her books. I loved her books, and my daughter too. Really enjoyed it.

I find this book fantastic. I have always liked Enid Blyton books the famous five and secret seven plus Nodddy and Big Ears. Still to this love them all. I have all the famous five books on my kindle and almost all the secret seven books. Anybody who thinks she was a bad mother to her own daughters should rethink. I know what a bad mother is as I had one.If Enid Blyton did not love her kids she would not have put her work aside while one was in hospital for months Enid Blyton was a fantastic writer and loved children and a great teacher.