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. 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.
In 2009, six more books were added to the series by author Pamela Cox. Events in these take place after Darrell has left the school and focus on her younger sister, Felicity Rivers.
Plot summaries First Term at Malory Towers
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 tempestuous. 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.
The Second Form at Malory Towers
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. Mary-Lou is nearly blown off the cliff when she tries to deliver a parcel for Daphne, who rescues her and in doing so manages to find courage and strength of character she didn't think she had.
Third Year at Malory Towers
Darrell and her friends are now in the Third Form, alongside more new girls. Wilhelmina, known to all as Bill, is obsessed with horses. There is also 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.
Upper Fourth at Malory Towers 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 lower school, but is forced to resign when her temper gets the better of her once more. A sickly new girl, Clarissa, had suffered from a heart disease, which later gives Gwendoline the idea of avoiding the examination by affecting a heart condition, which leads to a bitter confrontation.
In the Fifth at Malory Towers
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.
Last Term at Malory Towers
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 clashes with June over games coaching, while second former Jo runs away from the school after stealing money from Matron.
Pamela Cox books 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.
Origins and inspirations
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. Although Gillian was only at the Cornish location of Benenden School for one term before it moved back to Kent, Malory Towers' position on the west coast (as shown on the maps drawn for the endpapers of the books) matches that of Beneden School in Newquay. Other features of the school seem to be inspired by Dorset, where Blyton holidayed annually: the coastal swimming pool is similar to the one at Dancing Ledge, and the school building itself is similar to Lulworth Castle.
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. The similarities include Darrell's temper, interests in an acting career, and obsessions with horses. As with Darrell in the books, Gillian's (step) father was also a surgeon.
The incident in the first book that depicts Darrell pushing over Sally has a close parallel to an incident between Gillian and her younger sister Imogen. The entry in her diary reads:
'Imo annoyed me and I got in one of my tempers and knocked her down. She might have hurt herself. Really, I just don’t know what I do when in a temper. I might easily kill her one day.'
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. A memo in the back of her 1946 diary reads:
'In the letter Mummy wrote she said she thought I would make a good actress and that if I wanted to be an actress she and Daddy would back me up. She said she was glad I was able to analyse my feelings. She said I had the right sympathetic feelings for an actress. She was very nice and I love her.'
School building In its first appearance, the school is described thus:
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 school also has a rose garden, stables, tennis courts, sports pitches and an outside, natural swimming pool cut into the coastline.
Main characters (Enid Blyton novels)
The principal characters among the girls in the Enid Blyton books are:
North Tower girls in Darrell's year
Darrell Rivers is the main character of the first six books. Although responsible and hard-working, her hot temper causes her problems, but she learns to control it as she goes up the school. She is very popular with her form. In the upper school she becomes Head of the Fourth Form, games captain in the Fifth and finally, in the Sixth Form, Head Girl of the school. As she gets older at Malory Towers she begins to realise her talent for writing and aspires to be a writer in her adult career. Gwendoline Mary Lacey is vain, shallow and occasionally prone to spiteful tricks and bullying. In Darrell's final term, she and Headmistress Miss Grayling have a frank exchange where they agree that Gwen is a rare failure at Malory Towers. Soon after, Gwen is shocked when her father falls seriously ill and is in danger of his life. Shamefully remembering some of the cruel things she said to him while demanding that he sends her to a Swiss Finishing School, Gwen finally starts to re-evaluate her life. Alicia Johns is sharp-tongued and is the form joker, playing endless tricks on the teachers. Her quick mind enables her to easily cope with her academic work, and her pranks and jokes make her popular with other girls. However, she is also sharp-tongued and scornful of those less talented or healthy than her. She softens during her years at Malory Towers but is never given any role of responsibility because of her fondness for playing the fool. Sally Hope arrives at Malory Towers at the same time as Darrell, and the two become best friends. Jealousy is a persistent issue with Sally – her resentment of her younger sister is at the root of Sally's withdrawn and odd behaviour during her first term, before matters are resolved. She tries to overcome her jealousy during her time at Malory Towers, but occasionally it continues to be a problem for her. Sally becomes Head of Form in her second year and games captain in the Sixth Form. Mary-Lou Linnet is a quiet, shy girl, described as having "big, scared eyes." However, her courage and character develops as she moves through the school. She forms a threesome of friends with Darrell and Sally before finally finding a friend of her own, Daphne, who appears in the second form. Katherine is the head girl of the First Form in First Term at Malory Towers. She is a typically fair minded and straightforward character who stands no nonsense. Emily Lake is a quiet member and withdrawn member of the first form in First Term at Malory Towers whose main interest is sewing. Darrell invites her to tea with her parents at half term. Violet is described as shy and colourless, very much left out of things. She is mentioned once in First Term at Malory Towers and disappears from the stories thereafter. Jean MacDonald is a jolly, shrewd Scottish girl, adept at handling money for various school societies and charities. She becomes head of the form in Third Year at Malory Towers. Irene Edwards is a musical genius with a talent for mathematics, but is otherwise scatterbrained. A running theme is her repeated loss of her health certificate at the beginning of each term. She is best friends with the equally scatterbrained Belinda. Ellen Wilson – a new girl who joins in The Second Form at Malory Towers as a scholarship girl. She worries about her work and is described as having a pale, tired face. Belinda Morris arrives in The Second Form at Malory Towers and delights the other girls with her talent for drawing cartoons. She quickly becomes best friends with Irene, as the two are equally disorganised and prone to daydreaming.