Five Go Down to the Sea: Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, Cornish Wreckers and a Secret Lighthouse Light
This time the Five’s adventures take place on a farm in Cornwall, where they enjoy the hospitality of Mrs Penruthlan and her wonderful cooking. Near the barn live a lonely old shepherd and his skinny grandson, Yan.
Author: Enid Blyton (1897–1968)
Title: Five Go Down to the Sea (1953), Famous Five book 12
Format: English paperback (Hodder Children’s Books), 256 pages
Scope: Children’s adventure
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/0340894652 (ASIN 0340894652)
The Wreckers of the Coast
Legend has it that the coast around the farm was a place of repeated disasters and shipwrecks. Ships that ran aground on the rocks were plundered and the spoils shared among the locals. In those days the instinct to survive was stronger than honesty.
The Barnies and Clopper
The children have a great time at the farm with the Barnies, travelling players who perform there every year and are famous for their pantomime horse, Clopper. But not even the endless meals and generous teas can stop the Five from looking for adventure. They decide to visit Yan’s great-grandfather to hear the legend of the wreckers first-hand.
A Light in the Storm
On stormy nights, the light that once lured ships onto the rocks still shines. The old man is afraid to go back there and forbids his grandson to go near. Curiosity takes the Five and Timmy there on one of those nights, and they discover that smuggling is still going on. At first they suspect Mr Penruthlan himself...
Cornwall and Its Legends
Blyton chose a setting rich in folklore. The Cornish coast has long been associated with tales of wreckers, people said to lure ships onto the rocks with false lights so they could plunder the cargo. Historians doubt that deliberate wrecking was common, but the stories are part of Cornish tradition, and they give this book its atmosphere of danger: lonely cliffs, roaring seas and a light that should not be shining.
The Barnies
The travelling players add colour and comedy. Their pantomime horse, Clopper, is one of the most memorable creations in the whole series, and the children’s delight in the show is infectious. Blyton cleverly uses this cheerful world as cover for something darker, and part of the fun is working out which of the many adults around the farm can be trusted and which cannot.
Food, Glorious Food
Few Famous Five books take such pleasure in eating. Mrs Penruthlan’s enormous farmhouse meals, with their hams, pies, cakes and clotted cream, are described with obvious relish, and they have become one of the things readers remember most. Blyton wrote the book in the early 1950s, when rationing was still a recent memory in Britain, which helps explain why such feasts had a special magic for her first readers.
Yan and His Grandfather
Yan, the scruffy, half-wild boy who attaches himself to the Five, is a touching character, and his old great-grandfather, with his memories of the wrecking days, links the adventure to the past. Their story gives the book a little more emotional depth than many in the series.
Where It Fits
This is the twelfth of the twenty-one Famous Five novels, published in 1953. Like the others, it stands on its own, so it is a perfectly good place to begin.
Readers who enjoy the coastal setting should also try Five Go to Smuggler’s Top, another adventure full of secret passages, fog and smugglers by the sea, and one of the most popular titles in the whole series.
Both make great holiday reading.
Why Read It
Seaside atmosphere, legends, a pantomime horse and a night-time mystery: classic Famous Five, for readers of about eight to twelve.
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Part of the reading recommendations featured on books.sapiensverbum.com.
