Strangers at Witchend (by Malcolm Saville)

(Amazon UK link)

I am so pleased I decided to re-read the ‘Lone Pine’ series by Malcolm Saville over the past couple of years. They were some of my favourite books as a teenager, and I’m delighted to have managed to acquire some ‘Girls Gone By’ editions that have the full text, replacing my abridged Armada editions, many of which were falling to pieces due to having been read so many times.

‘Strangers at Witchend is 18th in the series, and it turns out that the Armada edition of this was not abridged, but the GGBP version is more sturdy, and, like others from this publisher, has interesting introductory material in addition to the story. I last read this in 2010, and since it’s not one I read as a young teenager, or quite as often as the earlier books, I had almost entirely forgotten the plot.

In this novel, several of the Lone Pine club gather at the Witchend home in Shropshire, which Mr Sterling is caretaking. Jon and Penny (who live in Rye) do not come into this, but all the others do, to a greater or lesser extent. David and Peter (Petronella) are an established ‘item’ now, but other than the odd arm around shoulders or going off by themselves, there’s no extra development of their romance.

For Tom and Jenny there’s even less development; Tom is mostly working on his uncle’s farm, and Jenny in her father’s shop some miles away. This story is much more about the twins, Dickie and Mary, and their friend Harriet who is about a year older.

Hoping for a reasonably peaceful holiday, the club members are surprised to find rather a lot of strangers in the area. Some ask about renting or buying properties, then someone breaks into the pantry and steals food. There are also mysterious goings-on at apparently abandoned or neglected cottages. James Wilson, the journalist, is hot on the trail of a story for his newspaper.

There’s more backstory than we’ve seen before for Peter’s father Mr Sterling, and some expansion in business for Harriet’s grandfather Mr Sparrow, who appears to be about the same age as Mr Sterling despite Peter being only about six or seven years older than Harriet. And there’s a new character, a boy just a little younger than Harriet, called Kevin. In this unfortunate child, whose father is a criminal and whose mother neglects him, we get a glimpse into a rather different world from that of the mostly quite privileged Lone Piners.

The storyline is a bit complicated and I’m not sure I managed to keep track of everything, though it didn’t much matter; but it does suggest that, while all the books stand alone in a sense, it would be best to have read at least some of the earlier books before this. I did, after all, feel that I knew the seven Lone Piners involved, James the journalist, the two elderly adults, and also Peter’s cousins who are briefly involved, later in the book. If they had all been new to me, as well as the many strangers, I would have felt completely lost.

I thought it a good story, well written, and while I’d like to have seen more of the older Lone Pine members, it was good to have a book mainly involving the younger ones who are still passionate about the club and its aims. The twins are more mature than they were in earlier books, even if chronologically they have only aged a year at most.

There are some surprisingly poignant scenes towards the end of the book, and one or two places that brought tears to my eyes. I’m glad I’ve re-read it, and would recommend it to anyone - teens or adults - who has read and liked others in the series. Unfortunately the GGBP books are never long in print, and it can be hard to find second-hand editions. But if you come across an Armada paperback that is still in reasonable condition, it should contain the full story.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's Book Reviews