Five On a Secret Trail

Brief Summary by Poppy Hutchinson (from http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/): Camping out, alone, in the moorland, near Kirrin Cottage – George and Anne see a series of strange flashing lights, one night from a derelict cottage, nearby. They also become acquainted with a strange young boy, who is involved in a local archaeological dig and when they are reunited with Julian and Dick, who have just returned from France – there is plenty to talk about! The Five gradually become aware of the fact that someone is trying to scare them away from this desolate spot on the Common – but the question is: who and why?


Random thoughts:

So we start with George at Kirrin Cottage still waiting for her cousins. Timmy gets injured and has to wear a cardboard collar so that he can't scratch his ear and reopen the wound. He looks funny and people laugh at him, which makes George mad. So she decides to "run away" with Timmy and camp in the commons near Kirrin Cottage while she waits for the others. I say run away because she doesn't ask permission and just leaves a note, although Aunt Fanny is OK with it. Which is a good thing, because otherwise where was she going to get supplies? Anyway, I liked the beginning. It rang true to George's character, being protective of Timmy and getting upset at his having to wear the collar and people laughing at him... much more upset than Timmy himself. Also, the fact that the children are not together for a good part of the book adds variety.

Anne is the next one to arrive and she joins George, and soon the two girls are camping together. They have a nearby spring to get water and an old cottage in ruins which provides shelter in case of very bad weather. They don't know if the boys will join them. Julian and Dick are in some kind of school trip in France. Don't the girls get to do things like that? Anyway, the trip sounds like fun, but the boys won't be having adventures over there. That magic only works when the Five are together.

The girls meet a funny boy. He is something of a joker and he is working on an archeological Roman dig nearby, but he doesn't want the girls going there and pestering him. I thought he had seemed more friendly than that. The girls agree not to go where they are not wanted, and he agrees not to go by their camp either. However, they encounter him again a bit later and he remembers nothing of this, and even accuses the girls of being crazy, while the girls think that he is the crazy one, or trying to play a weird joke.

We know the girls aren't crazy, so it's clear the boy is the crazy one... either that or he has a twin. And, of course, it will be later discovered that he has a twin.

The twins had had a fight and were pointedly ignoring each other, so that's why they were never together, but it was not very realistic that they would take it as far as accusing the girls of being crazy when they must have realized the source of the confusion. In spite of that, I have to confess that I rather enjoyed the whole farce. I guess I'm easy to please that way.

Meanwhile the adventure is being set: Anne sees lights and hears noises near the ruins of the cottage. George thinks she must have been dreaming. But later, during a storm, the girls take refuge in the cottage and they see someone peering in through a window at them.

The girls are scared and decide to return home next day. It's a bit uncharacteristic of George to run away. I have to admit that at this point of the series George is depicted as a bit less formidable than she was in the beginning, but still, running away... Well, she was doing it because of Anne, but she didn't even try to convince her to stay and investigate...

Fortunately, as they are about to leave, Julian and Dick arrive unexpectedly. With the two boys the group is complete and there's no way they'll run away now.

The adventure starts in earnest from there. I thought the children had a great idea, pretending to leave and then hiding to watch and see what the bad guys were so eager to do in the old cottage.

I hate it when George is excluded from dangerous activities, though. She wants Timmy to remain with Anne while she goes with the boys, but she accepts the excuse that if too many people go it will be more difficult to hide. Once that's accepted, there's no question that the ones to go are Julian and Dick. It bothers me that the boys never get to accept that George is as good as any boy, even though they should know better. The conventional "girls need to be protected" values of their time are too strong. Even George seems to accept them.

The boys successfully spy on the bad guys, who have a contrived conversation where they tell each other what they already know as a way for the boys to get all the information the plot requires them to have.

The plan of the bad guys is deliciously convoluted and inept. So, one of them has stolen valuable blueprints, and has the brilliant idea to hide them in an underground passage in the middle of nowhere. Casually it happens to be close to Kirrin Cottage, where the only other copy of the blueprints is (more on that later). Then he falls ill, but he draws some kind of map and gives instructions to his accomplices to retrieve the blueprints. However, the instructions are absurdly vague, and his accomplices are left looking all over the countryside in search of a stone slab. Basically they have little idea of where it is.

Apart from that, the adventure is pretty standard Famous Five stuff. Mysterious lights in an old ruin, secret passages, hidden stolen goods, one kidnapped child...

By the way, do check the Eileen Soper illustration of the woman who pretends to be a farmer to get information from the children. She looks so incredibly suspicious and spooky in that picture! :D

Finally, they recover the stolen goods and the kidnapped twin and they get to Kirrin Cottage and summon the police there. None of them knows what the blueprint is and whether it's valuable. George seems to think that since her dad is a scientist he will be able to identify every single blueprint in existence in the world. And sure enough, not only he is able to identify it, but he casually happens to be working on it. In fact it's a very important secret and Uncle Quentin has one of the only two copies, and the other one is the one that has been stolen. The bad guys, who had been locked in the secret passage, get picked up by the police.

OK, so that's it. This book is regarded by many fans as one of the weakest in the series. My impression is that it was not so bad. It had many of the things that make me enjoy these books. The stuff about Timmy and her collar was good. I liked the stuff with the twins, even if it's corny and even though it's just weird that one of the twins didn't explain the situation sooner. I enjoyed the children camping. The adventure stuff was not that bad, even though at this point, having listened to so many books in the series one after the other, secret passages and mysterious lights are not as exciting unless Blyton does something special with them. And here she doesn't, it's all a bit routine and by the numbers. To tell the truth, there are coincidences and plot holes in many of the books but perhaps this one has more than its fair share. It also lacks the descriptions we are used to when the children explore a new location. The setting here was near Kirrin Cottage and, aside from the ruins and the Roman dig nearby, had nothing to give it any particular personality.

All in all, certainly not among the best of the series, but it did not give me the impression that it was not worthy of being part of the series. I still enjoyed it.


Next up: Five Go to Billycock Hill ( )

Tim tiene una herida en la oreja, y el veterinario le ha colocado un collar de cartón para que no se rasque. Jorge teme que se rían de su perro, y se va a acampar a Kirrin Common, al final de Carters Lane. Ana llega a los pocos días, y las dos niñas encuentran a un chico llamado Guy, que está excavando en un campamento romano, muy aficionado a las bromas, que tiene un perro llamado Jet. Unas veces es muy agradable y otras se muestra muy antipático.

Una noche, durante una tormenta, las chicas se refugian en una casa abandonada. Durante un relámpago, Ana cree ver un grupo de gente de pie fuera de la casa. También a ambas les parece que alguien se ha asomado a la ventana. A la mañana siguiente, acobardadas deciden marchar a Villa Kirrin, pero la llegada de Julián y de Dick hace que recuperen el valor.

Se esconden en el piso superior de la casa abandonada, donde escuchan a unos individuos decir que un tal Pablo escondió unos planos importantes detrás de una piedra blanca. Al ir a ver a Guy, encuentran a su hermano gemelo, Enrique, que les dice que han raptado a Guy. Jorge encuentra la piedra blanca en la fuente, Con la ayuda de Enrique, mueven la piedra y encuentran un túnel, donde encuentran una cartera en la que están los planos robados. Descubren también otro túnel, bloqueado por escombros, que al quitarlos, encuentran a Jet y a Guy con una pierna lastimada. Guy les cuenta que los villanos han ido a por herramientas para limpiar la zona de escombros. Cuando regresan los villanos, Julián les quita las cuerdas, dejándolos atrapados en el túnel. Los niños regresan a Kirrin, donde acuden a la policía para que rescate a los villanos.

1972 dustjacket

England, ca 1955
Indeholder kapitlerne "1. Georg er noget besværlig", "2. Anne kommer til lejrpladsen", "3. Det gamle hus - og en overraskelse", "4. Om natten", "5. Drengen igen", "6. Et natligt uvejr", "7. Der sker noget mystisk", "8. Samlet igen", "9. En mindre undersøgelse", "10. Hvad er det, der sker?", "11. Interessante opdagelser - og en plan", "12. Et godt skjulested", "13. På lur i huset", "14. En spændende nat - og en overraskende morgen", "15. Godt klaret, Georg!", "16. Den hemmelige vej", "17. En masse overraskelser", "18. Vejen ud", "19. Tilbage til Kirrinhuset", "20. Eventyret slutter - som det begyndte!".

En familie med tre børn, Julian på 12, Anne på 10 og Dick på 11, sender ofte børnene på ferie ved deres farbroder Quentin og hans kone Fanny. Quentin og Fanny har datteren Georgina på ca 11 år og de bor ved Kirrin-bugten i et omkring trehundrede år gammelt hus kaldet Kirrinhuset. Georgina insisterer på at blive kaldt Georg og opfører sig meget som en dreng. Hun har hunden Tim. I denne bog er børnene nok et par år ældre.

Tim har forsøgt at hoppe over et pigtrådshegn og har skåret sit ene øre, så det må syes ved dyrlægen og den får en papkrave eller paptrompet om halsen, så den ikke kan klø sig i såret. Det ser sjovt og Georg bliver træt af at høre folks kommentarer og tager et telt og smutter. Kokkepigen Joan fortæller Anne hvor hun kan finde Georg og Tim, da hun kommer alene. Julian og Dick er i Frankrig og bliver der måske hele ferien. Anne får en stak madder med fra Kirrinhuset og begiver sig ud til Georg og Tim. De udforsker et gammelt faldefærdigt hus og opdager en dreng Harry og hans hund Jet og bliver gode venner med dem. Senere møder de ham igen, men nu påstår han at han ikke kender dem. Senere viser det sig at være to tvillinger Harry og Guy Lawdler. Julian og Dick sender til gengæld besked om at de snart dukker op.
Et natligt uvejr kommer forbi og pigerne ser nogen, der kigger ind til dem i det gamle hus og bliver skræmt. Julian og Dick dukker op næste dag og sætter mod i dem. De ser også de to tvillinger hver for sig og undrer sig, men uden at gætte at der er to ens drenge.
De snakker med Guy Lawdler, der har lejr i en udgravning, som hans far Sir John Lawdler har foretaget. Den er selvfølgelig støvsuget for fund, men man kan jo stadig være heldig.
Om natten forsøger nogle at skræmme børnene væk fra det gamle hus, men det lykkes ikke så godt. De lægger mærke til at nogen med en kikkert holder øje med dem og en kone, der ligner en dame klædt ud som bondekone, forsøger også at fortælle dem at de bør holde sig væk.
De lader som om de tror på hende og tager afsted, men om natten sniger de sig tilbage og kan se at tre mænd og en kvinde leder efter noget, der er gemt bag en hvid flise. Men de fire ved ikke hvor den flise gemmer sig. Næste dag finder de fem børn den rigtige flise ved en kilde og bagved den en hemmelig gang eller tunnel. Inde i den finder de en tom taske.
Tasken er ikke tom, men viser sig at skjule en plan, som ellers kun Georgs far og Sir James Lawton-Harrison har. Eller rettere Lawton-Harrison eksemplaret er blevet stjålet. De tre mænd bliver arresteret. Og der er tale om en dusør, som børnene så kan dele. Og Tims øre har det stadig lidt skidt, så alt er som ved begyndelsen.

Børnene bliver faktisk taget alvorligt og redder det hele. De to tvillinger Harry og Guy bliver også gode venner igen. ( )

Another fun little adventure :-)
Not much more to say than that ...

Adrianne ( )