Brief Summary: There's no end to the excitement facing the Five when their flight to Brazil is diverted by hijackers. But their captors' plans go badly wrong when their plane crashes deep in the South American jungle, near a tribe with a reputation for shrinking heads. It seems the Five have finally met their match — until a remarkable discovery gives them new hope and determination to escape.
How did I ever let this one slip under my radar!!
(Although the plot does seem more Hardy Boys than Famous Five.)
Well, it's just one of the 18 Voilier Famous Five adventures that were translated into English. In French there are 24 continuation stories by Voilier.
I read a few of those books back in the 80's I think it was. But somehow, they didn't really sound like the F.F. I guess the author just couldn't quite get that F.F read quite like Enid did. For me they were just a book about five children, and not the Famous Five at all.
Julian gave an exclamation and nudged George.
"See that? It's the black Bentley again. KMF 102!"
When one considers all the criticism they get for exploiting the name 'Enid Blyton', it might be as well to remember that it was Hodder who refused to allow the name being associated with the Voilier books and you can see that plainly in the final appearance, using the same title as my example.
They insisted that it was the name 'Voilier' on the cover and even removed the word 'Famous'. This was over twenty years ago and soon after these books were republished they took the decision to stop publishing the books in English again and they have stuck to that to this day.
It does of course mean that anybody wanting to read them in English would find it quite difficult to find a full set of all 18 books in 2017!
Then again, this was 20 years ago, as you say - and also, if I remember correctly, the publishers didn't commission Volier to write the follow-on novels?
This means that while Volier' or Julie or Rob can't publish their EB stories, the publishers can commission books themselves, even if they have titles like 'Five and the Crackhead Zombie Slaves' or 'Five Get Trashed on Vodka Shots'
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
You are going a bit OTT with your fancy titles here Rob!
It is the copyright holders who decide what can and can't be published and of course that is now a publisher, although up until recently it hadn't been. Because of a contract signed in the 1970s with Darrell Waters, both French and German publishers are 'a law unto themselves' and I believe this contract can't be rescinded. This is the reason why there are over 50 German Famous Five titles and of course many sequels in other series as well, but they can only publish these books in their own language and do not have the rights to release them translated into English. Darrell Waters would have taken the decision to allow the Voilier books to be published in English, but the decision to stop doing so would have come from Hodder/Chorion.
Rob Houghton wrote:... the publishers can commission books themselves, even if they have titles like 'Five and the Crackhead Zombie Slaves' or 'Five Get Trashed on Vodka Shots'
Shhh... don't give them ideas.
Society Member
It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
I find it interesting how a full length book can be written about the Five forgetting Mother's Day...and Enid Blyton is accused by her critics of not having good plots!!!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
Tony Summerfield wrote:You are going a bit OTT with your fancy titles here Rob!
This is the reason why there are over 50 German Famous Five titles ...
Just to quantify the number: There 71 Famous Five books in German available, 22 Written by Blyton, 18 written by Voilier, The Famous Five survival guide, and 30 books by Sarah Bosse. The Blobel books are only available 2nd hand.
I leave out the books of the four recent films.
Additionally there are 120 dramatised audiobooks available (not included the audiobooks of some of Boosse's books), 21 based on Blyton's books, 8 on Voilier books, the rest stories invented by publisher Europa.