The Enid Blyton Society

I've just been re-watching the 1989 BBC production on DVD — still as good as ever. I wonder where the garden scenes and the house's exterior (as seen in Hatty's time) were filmed? Both the house and garden remind me of National Trust properties I've visited.

Searching online hasn't turned up any useful info, but AHA — some sneaky person has FINALLY uploaded the entire 1989 version onto YouTube!! So now anyone who wants to can watch it. Here's Episode One. I don't regret forking out for the DVD, though, as it is much better quality.

I did, in Googling it, come upon some other discussion forum where someone was whinging at great length about the relatively low-budget nature of this series and especially the acting skills — or lack thereof — of the boy who plays Tom (Jeremy Rampling). I'll own he's not the most brilliant child actor I've ever seen and he does get a bit annoyingly whiny when he's worked up, but I've always found he plays the part believably enough. Even in the original book, Tom quite frequently gets upset over all sorts of things, so he can't be that easy a role for a young actor to play without slipping a bit too far into melodrama.

Come to that, one of the things I've never quite understood about Tom as a character is why he persists, throughout the story, in badgering his uncle and aunt with questions that they could only find bizarre (about lies, the nature of time, and so on). I know he's only trying to figure out how and why the garden appears and disappears, but I'd have thought most children would know instinctively — when something extraordinary and possibly magical is happening to you, you don't let on anything to the stodgy old grown-ups!

I've just bought a copy of Minnow on the Say by Philippa Pearce, which I haven't read before. What inspired this is that I'm having a little holiday in Cambridge in a few weeks' time and intend to visit Great Shelford, just to the south, which is where Philippa Pearce grew up and she based a lot of her books on the area, so I thought I'd better read at least one more of them before I go — Tom's Midnight Garden having been one of my all time favourites ever since I first read it at the age of 10! (My other reason for visiting is that my high school in Melbourne, Shelford Anglican Girls' School, was (for reasons unknown) named after Great Shelford and neighbouring Little Shelford in Cambridgeshire, so I'm just a bit curious to see them for myself.)

Judging from the blurbs I've read online, Minnow on the Say sounds a little Blytonesque — two children hunting for lost treasure, but someone else is interested in it as well... So I think I'll enjoy it. I'd be interested to discuss it with anyone else who's read it, but no spoilers please until I've read it myself!

Sounds good - I will hunt a copy down.
And also, no lashings of links please...well,maybe a couple of links would be ok!

Cheers!

I read Minnow on the Say for the first time 11 years ago, Courtenay, and thought it was a lovely book. What has stayed with me is the peace and tranquility of spending time on the river, rather than the adventure itself.

It's a lovely story Courtenay... I enjoy re-reading it every year or so.

It's a gorgeous book, I hope you enjoy reading it Courtenay.

I've just bought a copy from eBay, due to everyone's recommendations!

This edition, which I liked the look of -

Thanks to Courtenay for this recommendation.

I really like this author and was not aware of this title.
I have just bought a hard backed 1974 version described as in 'very good' condition for £3.98 inc delivery very similar to Rob's above.

Maybe we could have a mini non-Blyton read-a-discussion of the book once we have all read and digested it!

I think mine was about the same price!

I have only read 'tom's Midnight Garden by this author, but its a book I love, so hopefully I'll enjoy this one too!

I wanted to buy that edition too, Rob and Pete, but the only copies I saw of it on eBay were all from one of those sellers where they use a stock photo that they don't guarantee is what the book actually looks like... you sure you're getting what you bargained for??

Anyway, I've bought the Oxford Modern Classics edition for £1.90 with free postage, so if (horror of horrors) I don't like it after all, at least I haven't broken the bank. But if I do like it, I'll look for a nicer edition somewhere down the line. It does sound lovely, from what you've all said here.

I think a "mini non-Blyton discussion" of the book would be a great idea once those of us who haven't read it yet have done so... we did the same a couple of years ago after several of us bought Isobel Knight's The Mystery of the Island on Rob's glowing recommendations!

Courtenay wrote:I wanted to buy that edition too, Rob and Pete, but the only copies I saw of it on eBay were all from one of those sellers where they use a stock photo that they don't guarantee is what the book actually looks like... you sure you're getting what you bargained for??

Mine is definitely from 'that' book seller - although the description does state its a hardback of that edition. As I'm not 'collecting' it as such, I think I won't mind as much as I did when I got a 'wrong edition' of a Noddy book! Finger's crossed, it will be okay! I really do prefer hardbacks these days, so I'm hoping I'll be lucky!

I read Minnow on the Say as a child, I loved it and much preferred it to Tom's Midnight Garden. It has beautiful illustrations by Edward Ardizzone.

Better than Tom's Midnight Garden has got to be high praise indeed! I'm looking forward to this book all the more now.

This book is sounding better and better - I love these sort of recommendations.

My book condition was described as 'very good' as mentioned. The same stock picture had another for sale described as ' acceptable'.
I will be interested to see what condition Rob's book and mine actually are when they arrive!

Minnow On The Say is my favourite Philippa Pearce book too. Another book by her is The Way To Sattin Shore about a girl called Kate who never knew her Dad but has always missed having him. She visits the gravestone with his name on it but when the gravestone disappears she has to solve the mystery by delving into her family's past. All the clues point to one place, Sattin Shore.