Series of novels by author Enid Blyton
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 turbulent. 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. The third new girl is Daphne, who is not all she seems and is involved in a dramatic cliff top rescue on a stormy night.She rescues Mary Lou who was on the edge of dying on a cliff
Third Year at Malory Towers.
Darrell and her friends are now in the Third Form, alongside more new girls. American girl Zerelda has ambitions to be a film star, while 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 the form, but is forced to resign when her temper gets the better of her once more. A sickly new girl, Clarissa, gives Gwendoline the idea of avoiding the examination by affecting a heart condition, which leads to a bitter confrontation with her appalled father.
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 finds herself in danger when she attempts to swim in the sea beyond the safe waters of the school pool, 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 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: 
Books.
The six official books of the series are:
Pamela Cox wrote six sequels of the series in 2009 which focus on the adventures of Felicity Rivers, June Johns and Susan Blake:
Related books.
Blyton wrote two other series about boarding-school life: the "St. Clare's" and the "Naughtiest Girl" series.
Adaptations.
German adaptation.
The German version, published in the 1960s and 1970s underwent substantial changes to catch up with time (e.g. turntables instead of gramophones), to better resemble German grammar schools (playing handball instead of lacrosse). Furthermore, there were changes to character names – for instance, Darrell was renamed Dolly. From 1977 to 1997, twelve sequel books were published, telling Dolly's further life which always stays close to the school: after studying at a partner university, she works as a house mistress, marries one of the teachers, and has a child of her own. The story ends in the 18th book with old Miss Grayling's dignified retirement – and Dolly as her successor.
Stage musical.
A stage production written and directed by Emma Rice and her company Wise Children has been touring theatres in 2019. It is a co-production with York Theatre Royal, in association with the Bristol Old Vic.
TV series.
In 2019, it was announced that a television adaptation was being produced for British television channel CBBC, in association with Canada's Family Channel. It was developed by Rachel Flowerday, who had previously worked on the television series "Father Brown", and Sasha Hails. It specifically included a cast with members of BAME communities and actors with facial disfigurements. It premiered on 23 March 2020. Season 1 has 13 half-hour episodes about Darrell's first year at Malory Towers.
References.
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