Second form at Malory Towers (by Enid Blyton)

(Amazon UK link)

I re-read the first Malory Towers book in Enid Blyton’s series for teenage girls about a month ago, so in the last 24 hours I’ve re-read the second. Apparently I last read ‘Second form at Malory Towers’ as recently as December 2022 but I haven’t reread the rest of the series for considerably longer. So for the sake of continuity I read this book again - and, despite the relatively short time since I last read it, I had forgotten a lot of the detail.

Unlike many school series, Malory Towers dips into its heroine (Darrell Rivers)’s school career at a rate of just once per year. At the start of this book she’s thirteen, and about to go into the second form. School forms back in the 1940s were much more random than they are now; Darrell’s second form is probably equivalent to today’s Year Eight, or thereabouts. Age was only one criteria for being moved up; academic ability was also taken into account. 

So Darrell and her friend Sally have a new teacher - Miss Parker - as their form mistress, and she’s reputed to be rather stricter than Miss Potts. Sally is made head girl of the year, much to Alicia’s dismay. Alicia is usually top of the class, and has been at the school rather longer than Darrell and Sally. But she has quite a harsh character and doesn’t look kindly on anyone who struggles with school, or who has difficulties of any kind. 

There are new girls: Ellen is tall and thin, and looks constantly anxious. She was awarded a scholarship but doesn’t seem to be doing particularly well, even though she works harder and longer than most. She snaps at everyone and has a lot of headaches. She becomes so stressed that she is tempted to do something that she knows is wrong… Ellen’s story is, I thought, very well handled by all concerned.

Then there’s Belinda, who is as scatty as the musical Irene, but her talent is in art rather than music. And Belinda loves to do clever little caricatures. She fits right into the class, and becomes friendly with Irene which leads to some mildly amusing scenarios when both get lost or forget something important. They’re somewhat caricatured, but both very likeable. 

The third new girl is the beautiful Daphne, who regales Gwendoline with tales of her parents’ vast wealth, their many servants, and their huge yacht.  Gwen hopes to be invived to stay, but no invitation is forthcoming. Daphne struggles with a lot of the academics, and asks shy Mary-Lou to help her with her French. Mary-Lou is delighted to be of assistance to someone, and becomes quite fond of Daphne, despite Daphne insisting to Gwen that Mary-Lou is not worth anything as a friend; she’s just using her.

Just to add to the background, there is a battle going on between the two French teachers, Mamzelle Dupont and Mamzelle Rougier, as they can’t agree on who should take the main parts in the second form’s French plays. This leads to Belinda drawing cartoons… and a potentially unpleasant outcome which actually works out nicely. 

Then things start going missing… purses, jewellery and more. It’s more than just carelessness, and someone is suspected - with some reason, but no proof. Alicia blurts out what she suspects, and this leads to quite a dramatic scene that answers one question, but leads to all kinds of rumours.

And the one scene I did remember… Mary-Lou sets out on a dangerous errand along the cliffs in a gale, and disaster almost happens until an unexpected person comes to the rescue.

It’s somewhat stereotyped, and the writing is not the greatest; probably only people who grew up reading Enid Blyton would appreciate this as adults, although I these books, and others by the same author, are still appealing to younger generations. I know of at least three young people who enjoy and regularly re-read them. They’re republished from time to time as well as being easily available second-hand, and are available as audiobooks too. 

Recommended if you liked these as a teenager, or if you want something harmless for an older child or young teen who likes this kind of thing. 

Review copyright 2026 Sue's Book Reviews