New Books!

"Oh Gosh! That's wonderful! Thank you!" David Morton breathed excitedly down the phone, as his twelve year old twin brother and sister, Dickie and Mary hopped excitedly up and down waiting for him to finish.

David put the phone down, and turned around to face his brother and sister, his eye gleaming.

"What was that all about David?" Mary squeaked, seeing the excitement in her brothers eyes, "Who was on the phone?"

"Not now twins," David said, "Get on your bikes and go and get Tom and Jenny from Ingles, tell them we have an impromptu club meeting! Go on! I'll call Peter!

Oh and if you see Jon and Penny walking back, tell them to hurry up!"

"What about Harriet?" Dickie asked, "She's with Peter!"

"Then I'll tell Peter to bring Harriet as well," David said nodding, "Now go on!"

The twins, ran for their bicycles, willing this once to carry out David's orders to find out what the mysrtious phone call had been about.

Half an hour later, the Lone Pine club members stood under their old Pine tree on the side of the Long Mynd. They were all interested to find out, why David had sent them urgent messages to attend an ever so sudden meeting.

"What got you so excited David? You're normally so thorough," Jon said taking off his spectacles to polish them, "I must say, this impetuous side of you is not making a good start, old chap."

"I think it's fun to have on the spur meetings," Harriet remarked as Mary began to look impatient.

"Hush a minute," Mary said over the babble, picking up her darling Scottie Dog, Macbeth for fear of him being trampled, "David's had a very interesting phone call! Hasn't he Dickie?" She added turning to her twin.

"Hm? Yes, he did," Dickie said, poking the fire.

"Look, shut up and let David talk," Tom said glaring at the twins.

"Yes please do," Jenny gulped happily, "Is it thrilling David? Have you found us another adventure?"

"You're as bad as the twins, Jenny," Peter said smiling from her place at the foot of the Lone Pine, "Now let David speak."

"I'm with Peter on this one," Penny said blowing a red curl out of her face, "Come on David! Why all the secrets?"

"Well," David began, smiling, "Someone form a publishing Agency's just been on the phone to me, and they're company has decided to reprint the Malcolm Saville Books!"
"Oh wonderful!" Peter said, smiling, "Our books back in print again!"

"Smashing!" Said Dickie laughing, "Can we have something to eat now?"

That's right! I heard it today!

I was in my local bookshop, and I was just browsing the shelves, when I spotted a name I have never seen in print before! Malcolm Saville!

His books, the Buckingham Stories are being reprinted by Evan's publishers for his Centenary! I was speaking to the women who owns the bookshop and she said that she would let me know after talking to the Evan's representative who calls at the shop every month whether they have the rights, and the manuscript to re-print the Lone Pine adventures, which were probably Saville's best known work!

The Lone Pine adventures, follow the fortunes and adventures of nine children ranging from the youngest (The Twins Dickie (Richard) and Mary Morton) at about nine in the first adventure (Mystery at Witchend) to eighteen nineteen at the end (Home to Wicthend) where they're older brother David is at least eighteen.

The books started in the middle of the Second World War, when the Morton Family, minus Mr Morton- who has gone to be a fighter pilot in the RAF, go to stay up in Shropshire on the Long Mynd in a cottage called Witchend. From there they meet a girl called Petronella Sterling, who likes to be called Peter, and Tom Ingles, who works on his Uncle's farm, similarly named. From there they go on to have adventures together.

In the second book, Seven white gates, the Five of them meet, Jenny Harman, who becomes a member of the Lone Piners. And In The Third Book, they meet Jon and Penny Warrender, who are cousins who live in Rye, where the Morton's go on Holiday.

They don't meet they're last member, Harriet Sparrow, until Book ten, Lone Pine London, where Jon asks Harriet to show him the way home, because he's lost in London, while staying with the Mortons.

Without giving anything away, that's as breif an outline as you'll get from me. But I have to say, after being introduced to them a few years ago through my Mum's old copies of orginal print, I would love to own a selection of my own, to read so the orginal copies that I already have can be preserved.

Saville has become one of my most favourite authors next to the work of Enid Blyton. Much the same style as Enid, Saville's adventures seem to be aimed at the slightly older audience, but are just as thrilling as Enid's which at the beginning were written around the same time.

One major difference I can see between these two authors and they're "Best work" in my opinion, the Famous Five by Enid Blyton and The Lone Pine Adventures by Malcolm Saville is that after a period of time, where the post War rationing etc had burned off, Saville decided to age his characters, of course giving him more possible storylines, where as Blyton decided to try and keep her characters all the same age for the duration of her series, to keep the books aimed at Children.

But I must say, both sets of books, will never stop being a thrilling read for me, because of the magic of them. Alright I didn't read Saville until a few years ago, but I was able to apperciate his style and plots more, but Blyton never has lost her appeal to me, and I hope that as I get older (And Hopefully wiser) that both authors, and both sets of books, remain as dear to me as they are now, and that I can encourage more people to read some of the greatest Children's classics of the 20th Century!