The Neglected Mountain

Lone Pine #7

by Malcolm Saville

They were alone in a silent world of black and silver. The silence was intense. No bird cried. No fox barked.

David suddenly realised that she was trembling, her fingers were gripping him as if she would never let them go. Surely she wasn't still scared?

"Look, David," she whispered, and pointed ahead with her free hand. "Can you see it? Like a little light on top of the Mynd. It's a fire, I'm sure. That aeroplane has crashed. What shall we do?"

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Fiction, British Literature

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Leonard Malcolm Saville was an English author best known for the Lone Pine series of children's books, many of which are set in Shropshire. His work emphasises location; the books include many vivid descriptions of English countryside, villages and sometimes towns.

(wikipedia)

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seventh in the Lone Pine series of adventure stories for younger teenagers. In this book, the older Lone Piners are sixteen, and beginning to realise how much they mean to each other. Their adventure centres around dogs being stolen, and involves the ten-year-old twins' Scottie Macbeth.

There's humour, and a surprising amount of moving passages that made my eyes mist over. With this book, it feels as if the Lone Pine series really gets going, with some great characterisation. Nothing too deep, and probably too innocent for most of today's teens, but I always enjoyed these books, and am pleased to find that I like them just as much now as I did thirty years ago.

Latest full review: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...

[Selaya Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

While acknowledging that this is one of the darkest plotlines of any of the Lone Pine books, I also found it to be one of the most absorbing. It demonstrates very clearly how a group of people - in this case young people - can work, separately or together, to achieve the desired results. Writing in the early 1950's might seem to appear vastly different from what comes our way in the 21st Century but I think we can all glean some wisdom & insight into what we all hope can be a brighter and more promising future. I will continue to consume these stories on an ongoing basis; especially when I need a real anti-depressant!

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best Lone Pine - certainly the one I've re-read most often. A great one for map fans (I love the three different journeys to Bishop's Castle), the lightest bit of romance, genuine peril that's not dependent on water exploding out of anywhere ... and the action moves around a bit too. What the 'bad guys' are up to is fairly believable, and there's a strong supporting cast as well as cameos from old favourites (the Romanies, Mister Cantor, Alan Denton).

[Sarah]

I typeset this edition, and copy-edited the new introductory articles. I also proofread the scanned text before setting.

[Debbie Priddey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lone Pine series was one of my childhood favourites. Now I'm re-reading with an adult perspective, the middle books in the series are my favourite, and particularly this and Wings Over Witchend - in the earlier ones, the characters are still being established, while the later ones are too dominated by romance (and some of the plots pretty thin, e.g. Home to Witchend). In many ways, I feel his writing style was best suited to the 1950s, and this is a prime example - his young characters have a bit more independence and confidence to speak up when they think the adults are wrong, but are not yet affected by the 60s and 70s teenage pop culture that Saville was clearly uncomfortable with.

As always with Saville, the location plays an important role, and I really enjoyed the contrast between the happier scenes around the Longmynd and the sense of unease that permeates the Stiperstones. Peter is my favourite character and, as David notes in this book, you know where you are with her - and by now, whenever she's uneasy, we know that something bad will happen. I also enjoyed the development in her relationship with David - not necessarily the hints of romance, but the level of trust and understanding between them, and their ability to get past their occasional squabble with ease. It's in strong contrast with the stormier relationship of Jon and Penny in other books, and some might find it (and David) boring, but I love their affinity.

Although one of the criminals is the usual Saville stereotype of an ''utter rotter', who must be bad because he hates animals and children, for the first time we also encounter a villain who is at least conflicted. In this book and others following it, Saville starts to bring a little subtlety into his characterization of minor characters, with our heroes feeling let down by some of the good guys (who are only human after all) and ending up having to rely on one of the bad guys to come through for them.

And the twins, who I freely admit to finding extremely annoying most of the time, come across as a little more mature and sensitive here. As always, I could wish that Tom and Jenny were a little more developed as characters, but it's nice that they get a chapter to themselves.

[Greyscotty · Rating 5 out of 5]

No matter how many times I read this book, it always brings back memories. I received copies of this title plus "Sea Witch Comes Home" for my 12th birthday and read them in order: this one first. It's responsible for turning me into a life-long Lone Pine fan. I now own copies (sometimes more than one) of all the books in the series and will re-read them 2~3 times a year. Of course, they are dated: no "tech" back then but I need to observe that this is exactly what makes them so timeless. I'll run home, as it were, if I'm ever stuck for what to read next. I hope there are other aficionados out there.

[Rob Alcock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great nostalgia, I think you had to grow up with the Lone Piners to enjoy

[Andrea Hickman Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do like the Lone Pine series, though I've only read a couple of them. This book revolves around dogs, so of course Mackie plays a large role (as an aside, I loved the story Mary told about how he got his name, particularly given that he's a Scottie!). There's the slightest hint of budding romances and an engagement, neither of which are strictly necessary and I'm not sure how I feel about that sort of thing in my children's books. They didn't detract from the story, however, and I quite enjoyed the touches and would like to know how the relationships develop in the next book. Since they're hard to find, however, I shall have a long wait.

[Greyscotty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following the "Theta" disaster, I felt the need to return to something a little more basic. This is it. Lone Pine #7 (1953 edition) and the book which, at ten years old, weaned me off of Enid Blyton, Arthur Ransome and the like. I was given this and another Malcolm Saville book for my tenth birthday and - as the saying goes - have never looked back. The story is actually very readable; perhaps even believable in today's contexts and is still one of my favourites. Without spoiling it, the dramatic ending makes the rest of the story come together quite nicely.