Roger, Diana and Snubby thought these would be the most boring holidays ever - staying in a sleepy village with coaching to catch up on schoolwork every day. But that was before they met Barney, the circus boy searching for his father, and his pet monkey Miranda, and discovered the decaying old manor house - and heard the strange noises in the night...
The Barney series is one of Enid Blyton’s best, and most sophisticated. Roger, Diana and Snubby are variants of her usual plucky, sensible middle-class children - but more subtly drawn than usual. Roger isn’t just the oldest and in charge, his real sense of responsibility comes across. Diana is a mix of teenage moodiness and kind-heartedness, while Snubby is clearly the product of an upbringing shunted around between school and relatives. And then there’s Barney, self-reliant and mature, yet wistfully longing to find his father. The scenes where Diana takes charge in a practical way or Barney sits in the window seat following the others’ lessons use Blyton’s usual simple language but subtly show us their characters.
In this first of the series, the mystery unfolds gradually, as the children explore Rockingdown and discover the manor house. The picture of a decaying, neglected house and the sad story the children uncover about its past is a striking one. The mystery has a real sense of menace to it, and we’re left in no doubt that these are serious criminals, though Roger, Diana and Snubby never see that behind their exciting adventure lie boxes of guns and people who are capable of using them.
The Barney series is also about families and parents, centred on Barney and his quest to find his father, though that is only hinted at here, as he reads Shakespeare as the only way he has to get close to his actor father. But the theme runs through the book - at the very start Roger and Diana are alone, with their parents away; the story of Rockingdown Manor is a sad one of parents who lose their children; the villain is a son-in-law who abuses the trust of his law-abiding father-in-law; by the end of the book Miss Pepper, Barney and Snubby have all become part of Roger and Diana’s found family. And at one point the children are extremely glad to hand over to a responsible adult who can parent them.
With the evocative atmosphere of the abandoned manor house with a table left ready for a meal and ivy and other greenery covering everything outside and its strong and interesting characters, this is one of Blyton’s best.