The Secret of the Gorge (by Malcolm Saville)

(Amazon UK link)

I’m enjoying my slow re-read of Malcolm Saville’s ‘Lone Pine’ series of adventure stories intended for teenagers. I first came across these books in my early teens, when I discovered a few hardbacks on my grandmother’s shelves. Within the next few years, they were available in Armada paperback, inexpensively, and I gradually acquired the whole series.  But I was never all that keen on the middle books. So in my last read through, over ten years ago, I missed out several of them including ‘The Secret of the Gorge’, which is the eleventh book in the series.

In the last few years, however, I have been able to buy unabridged ‘Girls Gone By’ editions of these books. Some of my Armadas are falling to pieces, and I realised that they were abridged, some of them quite significantly. So I’ve just read this book for the first time in its full version. Since I hadn’t read it at all, even in the abridged version since 1995 or thereabouts, I had entirely forgotten the story, and all the additional characters.

It’s quite an exciting book, although it took me a few chapters to get into it. We meet the villains first: a former butler, who (as we quickly discover) was involved in a theft many years earlier, from a manor which is now about to be demolished. He is recognised by the owner of an inn where he wants to stay, and has to explain what he hopes to do - which is to attempt to discover where the lost diamonds were hidden.

The Lone Piners get involved because Jenny’s father takes her to an auction where he buys a sofa from the manor, and is approached by two men who make him a very high offer for it - but he refuses to accept. Later Jenny discovers part of a letter which has a clue…

Meanwhile, Nicholas Whiteflower, aged 12, is fed up and miserable. His mother died fairly recently and he’s living with his aunt not far from the Post Office where Jenny lives. They’re struggling to survive, and although he’s fond of his aunt he misses his mother, and is very lonely. This makes him rather obnoxious at first, but he makes friends with the Lone Piners, and realises that if they can find the diamonds, then his worries are over.

Of course it’s a preposterous idea, with only the vaguest of clues . It’s also one that’s full of all kinds of danger, since the crooks are after the same thing and are ruthless people who think nothing of getting into fights, locking people in empty buildings, kicking dogs… or worse. But the Lone Piners don’t know, at first, just how dangerous their mission is going to be, nor how difficult. So they set out, with Nicholas, to camp near the manor, and embark on their search.

What’s unusual is that - other than Jenny, and of course Nicholas - nobody is really all that keen on this adventure. They all realise that their chances of discovering the diamonds are minimal, and they don’t like the way that different people keep warning them off. They are told that they can’t go near the manor, as it’s trespassing, as is camping nearby. And the river - with the gorge of the title - is dangerous too. Floods can overtake them suddenly, and the weather isn’t exactly conducive to camping.

There are injuries, fights, dangers in the currents of the river, flooding… and also a lot of courage, integrity and kindness. The full editions of these books have not just description that’s missing from the abridged paperbacks, but interactions between the Lone Piners. There’s more than one hint of the romance to come with David and Peter, but I don’t recall any of that in the Armada book (though I may be wrong). The twins don’t have a huge part to play in this book, and Tom is a bit shadowy, but I liked Nicholas, and Jenny is full of her usual enthusiasm. But David and Peter, who suffer most of the injuries between them, are shown as mature and wise, and willing to risk their lives for what they believe to be right.

Naturally, since this is a children’s book, everything works out well in the end and the villains are booted out, but I thought the way it happens was well done even if it relied on a slightly unlikely coincidence.

So all in all, I enjoyed this book more than I expected to, and would recommend it. As with all the Lone Pine series, it stands alone, but is all the richer in characterisation for being read after the earlier books in the series.

Unfortunately the 'Girls Gone By' editions of these books never stay in print for very long, and are limited in number so second-hand versions can be very pricey. It's worth either waiting for re-prints (which can be years away), or checking for special offers through sites such as the Facebook marketplace, or Abebooks.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews