Maddy Again: Book 5: Blue Door 5

Blue Door #5

by Pamela Brown

The fifth and final book in the Blue Door series, which starts with The Swish of the Curtain, the classic story that inspired actors from Maggie Smith to Eileen Atkins

'I wanted to act before I read this book, and afterwards there was no stopping me' Maggie Smith

Maddy got up and did her Junior Miss speech, trying not to overdo the comedy. Her American accent was hideous, and very funny, and all the class began to giggle. They clapped when she had finished, and Mr Manyweather roared with laughter 'What a little horror!' he cried. 'I've never seen anything so nauseating, but excellent!'

Maddy is on her own again at the Actors' Guild in London, while the others work at the Blue Door Theatre. But she's not entirely alone: she has a new roommate, a new chaperone and an inspiring new teacher, Mr Manyweather, brought in to introduce students to the exciting world of television.

With these new friends, can Maddy survive her first taste of failure – or is she embarking on her greatest acting adventure yet?

Pamela Brown (1924–1989) was a British writer, actor then television producer. She was just fourteen when she started writing her first book, and the town of Fenchester in the book is inspired by her home town of Colchester. During the Second World War, she went to live in Wales, so The Swish of the Curtain was not published until 1941, when she was sixteen. She used the earnings from the books to train at RADA, and became an actor and a producer of children's television programmes.

Genres: Childrens, Young Adult, Middle Grade

225 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

British writer, actress and television producer.

Reviews

[Rosemary Atwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brown focuses on the intricacies of television in this final Blue Door novel - and what a novelty it must have been in the 1950s. Broadcasting hours were short, productions went live to air with an immense amount of preparation involved and the author writes from the inside out on every aspect of production.

Yet, for all its charm, ‘Maddy Again’ feels underdeveloped and rushed - more ‘how to’ than necessary, more filler than finale. An uncertain end to an outstanding series.

[Evelina | AvalinahsBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was all "no more review copies for me" and all that, but then I saw Maddy Again on Edelweiss, and I turned all grabby hands in a moment. And read it in one sitting on the same day.

#noregrets

I am absolutely in love with The Blue Door series (you might have already heard me fangirl about it). So I was super excited to see the last book in the series and jumped at the chance to read it. I feel like book 4 rounded up the story of the main group of characters pretty well, but I feel like you could keep telling stories about Maddy for ten more books!

So first of all, Maddy is still my absolute favorite character of all, perhaps not just in this series, but in any book at all! She is absolutely enough for you to drop everything and just read this series already. If you'd like to learn more about why you should, you should read my reviews for these books: The Swish of the Curtain, Maddy Alone

I really enjoyed Maddy Again, especially for the glimpses it gives you into the world of the first real decade of TV- a time when TV would be on for a few hours of the day only - because there was nothing transmitted for the rest of the day. A time when TV was live and only live, which made it so complicated. A time when most people did not have a TV set in the house. And as is usual for Pamela Brown, she gives a lot of detail about all of it! I really enjoyed reading about all that and learning the way things used to work.

Despite really loving the story, there's one thing that disappointed me - I felt the ending was quite abrupt, especially considering this is the last book. Perhaps the author was planning another one? But I can only find the 5 books if I look for the series, so I am not sure. All I know is that l'd read plenty more books about Maddy!

I thank the publisher for giving me a free ebook through Edelweiss in exchange to an honest review. It has not affected my opinion.

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[Darla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that's a wrap. The series is done. I quite enjoyed this last book featuring Maddy in the early days of television. It was enlightening to picture the folks who would gather at a house where there was a telly so they could watch a program together. Maddy's new friend Sunny is a refreshing addition to the cast and it was fun to have them visit Paris despite the fact that they had to see it all in two days.

Thank you to Pushkin and to Edelweiss for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly the repertory theatre company that was supposedly the point of this series is completely out of the picture this time and brash Maddy is once again the main and only character. With two books featuring her and the others nowhere to be seen, one wonders if Brown saw herself as Maddy. Even Zillah, whose thread looked promising, does almost nothing and vanishes quickly from the scene, making me wonder why Brown bothered with her at all. Theatre is not even the emphasis, instead we get how TV programmes were made back then. Yawn.

There were enough mistaken stereotypes this time to lower the star count to 2. Sunny is supposedly a Southern American woman of colour but she talks very British, except for calling everyone "Honey." One wonders if Brown had ever met an African American. When the team goes to France there's a lot of talk about the French "shouting and waving their arms"--she seems to have confused that stereotype with the one about Italians.

I didn't enjoy this book much, but at least the tiresome Hyacinthe Bucket character doesn't appear.

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do love Maddy so it was good to read another Blue Door book about her, but this instalment wasn’t as satisfying as the previous ones. I think Maddy works best playing off the other Blue Doors, who don’t appear in this story at all - they are barely even mentioned. And to be honest, Maddy herself has become slightly insufferable by this point in the series. I suspect if I met her, I wouldn’t like her! There is no indication that she is growing up or learning, which actually might have been quite an interesting plot point if she had been with the other Blue Doors, who are now professional actors running a rep full time, but on her own in the middle of London it all felt a bit superficial and unconvincing - basically an excuse for the author to show off her own detailed knowledge of the TV business. I will re-read the other Blue Door books often, but probably not this one.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I did enjoy this book, especially learning about the early days of the television industry, it lacked the camaraderie of the books about the entire group of "Blue Doors". While Maddy is an amusing character, in some ways I did not find her strong enough to carry the entire story.

[Gabrielle S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve owned this book for years and I have read all the other Blue Door books but I never got around to this one. After Maddy Alone which was slightly disappointing I was worried about Maddy Again. Maddy is the most well developed of the Blue Doors and she is less terrible in this book. It was a nice ending to the series although this one did feel a little more “let’s talk about careers in television for children” than the others. Still it was a nice ending to the series.

[Avril · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the final in the 'Blue Door' series and I bought it only for completeness, not being a fan of Maddy. But this isn't actually too bad a book. Maddy is much less obnoxious than she was in 'Maddy Alone' and there's a lot of fun social history about the beginning of television.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series SO much, and I am sad I have finished it! If you love theatre books then I really urge you to pick up this series (it’s so good)!
This book was about Maddy and the beginnings of television and I really enjoyed it, and I would give it a four stars!