The Enid Blyton Society

Fictitious, I know, but where do you think Enid was thinking of when she wrote about it?

Given the description of the terrain and the people, I would hazard a guess at one of the former Eastern Bloc countries like Yugoslavia.

There was another thread on this long ago, I haven't the energy to search for it now, but there was a two way split in opinion as I recall. Some people thought that Baronia, and Tauri-hessia too, was located somewhere in the Iberian peninsula. I agree with you UnPC that it sounds altogether more like the Balkans. Blyton's descriptions of circuses, grubby children in bright clothing, swarthy gypsy type people and comic opera policemen remind me very strongly of descriptions of the old 1920s/1930s way of life in those lands. Rebecca West's seminal book Black lamb, Grey Falcon contains many scenes which feature people very reminiscent of the characters Enid created. It was also published in 1941, just two years before The Secret of Killimooin was set in Baronia. I wonder if Blyton ever read West's book?

Its uncanny-I was just thinking of Baronia especially after recently re-reading Killimooin, and then I see this post!
I was thinking actually of Rumania-mountains, dacoits, castles, underground rivers...
Sayantani

I agree Baronia is in Eastern Europe. Other clues to this are i) Paul's brothers names - Boris and Gregor (referred to in Moon Castle); ii) it only takes a few hours to fly from London.

I am not so sure about Tauri-Hessia and wonder if it is possibly somewhere further - maybe North Africa or the Middle East. It seems less developed and more remote somehow.

I still remember the sadness I felt when I realised (and I did work it out myself) that these were fictional countries.

black labrador wrote: I am not so sure about Tauri-Hessia and wonder if it is possibly somewhere further - maybe North Africa or the Middle East. It seems less developed and more remote somehow.

The Balkans were extremely poverty stricken and "backward" in the early decades of the 20th century. The more mountainous parts such as Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania would have been quite remote from the rest of Europe and would have been almost like another continent.

having lived and stayed in that part of the world quite recently, i would say these countries are still very underdeveloped compared to other parts of europe.
sayantani

Lucky Star wrote:

black labrador wrote: I am not so sure about Tauri-Hessia and wonder if it is possibly somewhere further - maybe North Africa or the Middle East. It seems less developed and more remote somehow.

The Balkans were extremely poverty stricken and "backward" in the early decades of the 20th century. The more mountainous parts such as Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania would have been quite remote from the rest of Europe and would have been almost like another continent.

True, but isn't the journey to Tauri Hessia a very long one - which may imply it is further away?

Plus what is the UK government's interest in Tauri Hessia - Bill tells the children it is important that the country has a strong ruler i.e. the current King. The UK would not have had that kind of interest in Eastern Europe - somewhere near a country that was in the British empire would have been more likely.

I once typed Baronia in Google World and it actually showed me a place, somewhere around Italy. It wasn't a country, but some sort of place.

Interesting, Muminah. I just followed your example and came up with this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castel_Baronia" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting Anita! I would really like to visit the place and see how life goes on there. I mean to see whether its anything like Enid Blyton described.

Merged with an older thread.

Just reached the above on my big New Year "Secret Series" read and was struck by the various similarities between "Baronia" and Romania. We went on there on a mountain holiday in the 1990s, and it was stunning - Dracula's Castle, wonderful walks through deep forests, woke up at 3am once to a choir singing on a nearby roof, and often heard the growls of bears coming down to scavenge in the hotel rubbish bins - so the story line of a land of high mountains and a secret forest sounded possible location wise. When we went the country was governed by Ceausescu and two of the Baronian characters are Pilescu and Tooku - coincidence?!

floragord wrote:- coincidence?!

Probably not. I have always been of the opinion that both Baronia and Tauri-Hessia were set in the Balkans. The descriptions of the people, the castles, the attitudes and the policemen's uniforms all conform to what that area was like in the early part of the twentieth century. If you ever get a chance and are interested in that part of the world at all you should read Rebecca West's Black Lamb, Grey Falcon. It is the most fascinating book, a factual exploration of the six republics that made up Yugoslavia in the 1920s.

Just north of Fallonia ?

Is there a list anywhere of the countries that comprise the continent of Blytonia ?

I wonder if it's coincidence that in the book "The Mystery of the Silver Spider" (Three investigators) something along the same lines is used. Unfortunately the German edition made the place some kind of Disney land in the USA.
About the political situation, Yugoslavia and Albania weren't part of the Warsaw treaty despite being socialistic countries, and Greece was a kingdom until 1963.
After World War 2 there were quite a number of riots caused by socialists in Greece which could have also stirred Enid Blyton's imagination. Of course Western countries were interested in keeping the socialistic influence at a minimum.