The Enid Blyton Society

I am sure there must be a lot of members on this forum, who have read Moonfleet (a Book, which I have never read, but hopefully will one day), I have got two screen versions of Moonfleet, the 1955 film version (starring Stewart Granger), which I know was very different from the Book, I have also got the six part 1984 BBC version (starring Adam Godley and David Daker), which was very faithful to the Book.

My first experience of Moon Fleet was the BBC version. I loved it. I have the book, but I've never read it - one of those that I have ready to read (along with The Jungle Book, Treasure Island, The Box Of Delights and a few others) but haven't actually got round to yet!

I have read the book but never seen it on the screen. It's a terrific book, full of atmosphere, danger and suspense. Up there with Treasure Island in my opinion.

I read 'Moonfleet' at school in the Puffin edition in the 1970s and found it enthralling - especially as I by then knew the setting well and had frequently been on Chesil Beach in Dorset where the book is set. The sound of the millions of pebbles on the huge stretch of beach moving to and fro in a storm is every bit as powerful as in the book; the beach is at the East end of Lyme Bay which is open to storms that can sweep in directly from the Atlantic.
'Moonfleet' village is based on the real life hamlet of West Fleet, a few miles West of Weymouth on the Fleet lagoon - a large 'inland sea' a few hundred yards wide but ten miles or so long, cut off from the sea by the Chesil Beach (made of pebbles). The village was genuinely being swallowed up by the sea in the C18th as in the book, which is set in the 1750s. The finishing touches were administered by a huge storm in 1824 and now all that is left are a few cottages and the manor house which the hero's girlfriend's father Judge Maskew owns in the book - now the Moonfleet Hotel. I remember posing outside the gates for a photo while I was reading the book.
I do wonder if Enid got the idea for the name in 'Secret of Moon Castle' from reading Moonfleet, as it is not far from her area of Purbeck in Dorset. The family who originally owned the manor house, the Mohunes, are featured in the book (the hero hides in their burial vault in the church) and are called the 'Moones', which is how they pronounced the name. They also owned a castle in Somerset, Dunster.

I read Moonfleet a very long time ago and remember finding it sinister and suspenseful. I don't think I've still got a copy, I shall have to check.

I read this , I think, in junior school. Delighted to hear that there is a faithful version of it ( as opposed to the dreadful Stewart Granger) version.

Very interesting post, timv, I have now bought a copy of the Book (which I am sure I will enjoy reading sometime).

A wonderful and suspenseful book, with plenty of pathos.