Mullion

by Mabel Esther Allan, R. Walter Hall (Illustrator)

Mullion Kennedy spends her summer holiday with her great-grandmother, on the Island of Polmerryn, in Cornwall, together with her five cousins. None of the children had met the old lady before, but to each child she is an impressive figure.

200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

A prolific British children's author, who also wrote under the pen-names Jean Estoril, Priscilla Hagon, Anne Pilgrim, and Kathleen M. Pearcey, Mabel Esther Allan is particularly known for her school and ballet stories.

Born in 1915 at Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula, Allan knew from an early age that she wanted to be an author, and published her first short stories in the 1930s. Her writing career was interrupted by World War II, during which time she served in the Women's Land Army and taught school in Liverpool, but the 1948 publication of The Glen Castle Mystery saw it begin to take off in earnest. Influenced by Scottish educator A.S. Neill, Allan held progressive views about education, views that often found their way into her books, particularly her school stories. She was interested in folk dance and ballet - another common subject in her work - and was a frequent traveler. She died in 1998.

Reviews

[Mary Durrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely story , reminds me of The Famous Five.
Beautifully written of a bygone care free age where children spent their summers exploring and having adventures.
Moonlight picnics, a secret passage and a great great grandmother.
All set on an idyllic island.
Written in 1949.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mullion has lived all her life in Liverpool, but she has always been fascinated by her mother’s tales of her childhood living in a castle on the island of Polmerryn in Cornwall. Polmerryn belongs to Mullion’s great grandmother, who has not been on speaking terms with her granddaughters since they married against Lady Polmerryn’s wishes. But now Lady Polmerryn has written, expressing a sudden desire to see her great-grandchildren, and soon Mullion is on a train on her way to Penzance. On the train she meets her cousins, Collie and Pussy, who are also on the way to meet their unknown great-grandmother, Pussy has brought her beloved pet cat, Squibbs. When they get to Penzance they are met by their Uncle Austell, the only one of Lady Polmerryn’s grandchildren whom she hasn’t quarrelled with. Mullion is enchanted with the island of Polmerryn and the castle, but is somewhat intimidated by Lady Polmerryn who is (like many of MabelEsther Allan’s elderly characters) very imperious and autocratic. Mullion is in for a very exciting time, as she and her cousins have all sorts of thrilling adventures, including several narrow escapes from death. Mullion clashes with her great grandmother who disapproves of her friendship with Martin, nephew of a local boatman, but Martin proves to be an invaluable friend.
An action packed story with some interesting characters and some lovely descriptions of Cornwall. Few children can have had a more satisfying summer holiday.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mullion Kennedy lives in an ordinary house in Liverpool but dreams of her mother’s family home in Cornwall. Suddenly an invitation comes to spend summer with the great-grand-mother who has quarrelled with Mullion’s parents and cousins she has never seen….

This is a Famous Five style summer holiday adventure, tinged with a little gothic romance suitable to its 11-year-old heroine. There is something fairy tale about the castle on an island and the remote, intimidating great-grand-mother, but Mullion’s cousins are exactly the kind of children you meet in postwar stories: the spoiled baby who needs to grow up, the bookish one, the mother hen, and so on. Allan liked some of these characters enough to have them feature in subsequent books, but I can’t help feeling that a different, more sophisticated story lurks beneath the straightforward boating, swimming and secret passage adventures here.