Enid Mary Blyton, a synonym of adventure

Enid Mary Blyton was born on August 11, 1897 in South London, United Kingdom, and spent her childhood in Beckenham, Kent. She was the eldest of three siblings, with two younger brothers Hanley and Carey, whom she often regaled with bedtime stories. Since childhood, Enid was interested in gardening, music and literature. Her first published work was a poem that appeared in a 1917 issue of the Nash Magazine.

The author enjoyed a close relationship with her father who not only shared with her interests in gardening and literature but also encouraged her to pursue her creative instincts. On the other hand, her relationship with her mother remained strained right from the beginning. She treated Enid and her brothers differently and did not approve of Enid’s interests which she saw as being ‘worldly’. The three Blyton children grew up in a tense household where arguments between the parents were commonplace. When Enid was 13, her father left their house and began a family with another woman. As she coped with the feeling of abandonment from her father, Enid used to stay locked up in her room for hours, channeling her emotions into writing.

WRITING STYLE AND CAREER

As a teenager, Enid submitted her works to multiple magazines and publishers but received only rejection slips in response. Apart from trying her hand at writing, she was also a talented musician. After she finished school, Enid was accepted by the Guildhall School of Music in London and her family expected her to become a professional musician like one of her aunts.

She, however, did not pursue music and decided to train as a teacher instead. In her biography, The Story of My Life (1952), Enid wrote t h a t t e a c h i n g g a v e h e r a reason to stay close to children and understand their interests. As a teacher, Enid continued to write regularly and eventually began tasting success in the 1920s. She wrote for several periodicals including Teacher’s World and her first book – Child Whispers – a poetry series published in 1922. In 1926, she be gan her own magazine, Sunny Stories, and published her first full-length novel – The Adventures of Binkle – and Flip. Her second novel came just a year later and soon, she became well-known as a quick writer in the publishing industry.

In her biography, Enid described her spontaneous style of writing in detail, saying that her writing involved no planning. She sat down to write a story and let her mind and thoughts take over. She believed that her experiences in life had provided the material for her writing. She wrote: “Something had been at work, adapting, altering, deleting here and there, polishing brightly— but still the heart, the essence of the original thing, was there.”

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Enid married Hugh Pollock, editor at the book department of the Newnes Publishers in 1924. The couple shared their interest in gardening as well as travelling and had daughters Gillian and Imogen. However, Hugh and Enid grew distant and after 20 years of marriage, the couple separated and opted for divorce. Later on, Enid married surgeon Kenneth Darrell Waters and lived with him as well as her daughters. By the 1950s, both her daughters had moved out. Kenneth and Enid – despite their failing health – kept each other company. In her last few years, she suffered from dementia and passed away in November 1968

INTERESTING FACTS

1. Enid Blyton worked at an extremely fast pace and was known to complete her manuscripts in very short time. She typed an estimated 10,000 words per day and she published approximately 800 books over a period of 45 years.

2. Many of her characters, such as Claudine from St. Clare’s, Bimbo and Topsy were based on real people or animals that Enid encountered throughout life. It is said that George’s character from the Famous Five series reflected her own personality.

3. Enid’s favourite book from her childhood was The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, which she confessed to have read a dozen times. However, it was Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women series that inspired her to become an author.

4. The Secret Seven author also had a gift for music and her family believed that she would choose music as her profession. She was accepted at the renowned Guildhall School of Music, located in London but gave it up to pursue teaching.

5. She used to create her own nursery rhymes on the basis of popular rhyme tunes since a young age. As a teenager, she began penning poetry and short stories but received only multiple rejection slips. She achieved success as a writer only during her 20s.