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The Secret #1
The Secret Island
Four runaways, Mike, Peggy, Nora and Jack, find a secret hiding place—a deserted island on a lovely lake. They build a willow-tree house, make their beds of heather and bracken, and grow their own vegetables. And Jack even manages to bring his cow, Daisy, and some hens to the island for fresh milk and eggs every day! But one day invaders come to the secret island...
163 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1938
112 people are currently reading
1565 people want to read
About the author
Enid Blyton
5,132 books6,299 followersSee also:
Ένιντ Μπλάιτον (Greek)
Enida Blaitona (Latvian)
Энид Блайтон (Russian)
Inid Blajton (Serbian)
Інід Блайтон (Ukrainian)
Enid Mary Blyton (1897–1968) was an English author of children's books.
Born in South London, Blyton was the eldest of three children, and showed an early interest in music and reading. She was educated at St. Christopher's School, Beckenham, and - having decided not to pursue her music - at Ipswich High School, where she trained as a kindergarten teacher. She taught for five years before her 1924 marriage to editor Hugh Pollock, with whom she had two daughters. This marriage ended in divorce, and Blyton remarried in 1943, to surgeon Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters. She died in 1968, one year after her second husband.
Blyton was a prolific author of children's books, who penned an estimated 800 books over about 40 years. Her stories were often either children's adventure and mystery stories, or fantasies involving magic. Notable series include: The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, The Five Find-Outers, Noddy, The Wishing Chair, Mallory Towers, and St. Clare's.
According to the Index Translationum, Blyton was the fifth most popular author in the world in 2007, coming after Lenin but ahead of Shakespeare.
See also her pen name Mary Pollock
Ένιντ Μπλάιτον (Greek)
Enida Blaitona (Latvian)
Энид Блайтон (Russian)
Inid Blajton (Serbian)
Інід Блайтон (Ukrainian)
Enid Mary Blyton (1897–1968) was an English author of children's books.
Born in South London, Blyton was the eldest of three children, and showed an early interest in music and reading. She was educated at St. Christopher's School, Beckenham, and - having decided not to pursue her music - at Ipswich High School, where she trained as a kindergarten teacher. She taught for five years before her 1924 marriage to editor Hugh Pollock, with whom she had two daughters. This marriage ended in divorce, and Blyton remarried in 1943, to surgeon Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters. She died in 1968, one year after her second husband.
Blyton was a prolific author of children's books, who penned an estimated 800 books over about 40 years. Her stories were often either children's adventure and mystery stories, or fantasies involving magic. Notable series include: The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, The Five Find-Outers, Noddy, The Wishing Chair, Mallory Towers, and St. Clare's.
According to the Index Translationum, Blyton was the fifth most popular author in the world in 2007, coming after Lenin but ahead of Shakespeare.
See also her pen name Mary Pollock
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 246 reviews
March 13, 2016
What I realize about The Secret Island is the juxtaposition of being grounded (in reality) and escapism. The harsh, bleak, unkind, hopeless, scary, and tantalizing reality and situation of the four kids - Jack, Peggy and Nora and (?) Peter are both impossible and easy to solve. Heaven is just a secret door away from hell. The preachy tone of Enid Blyton is kept sedated, which improves the flow of the adventure. I really liked the kids. I enjoyed the fairy tale ending of this book - it was so cozy... an ending that I'm showing mentally to dunce like cozies that can only dream of aspiring to Enid Blyton's excellence. Can't wait to read the Secret Of Spiggly Holes.
April 11, 2019
When Mike, Peggy and Nora's parents go off on an expedition to some far away place in a small plane that crashes they are sent to live with a cruel aunt and uncle. Tired of the relentless work and abuse they team up with another orphan called Jack and plan to live on a nearby island. After extensive planning they run away and take a rowing boat and supplies to the island. Having enjoyed the start of this book, we thought it had a bit more of an edge than your average Blyton, we felt disbelief at this point how 4 children were going to remain undetected on a quite nearby island and be completely self sufficient. As the story progressed we marvelled at the details of how they did provide for themselves They came up with some clever tactics to remain undiscovered, inspired by some pesky 'trippers'. and a lovely twist comes at the end. Their Island life sounds wonderful, I would love to be there at least for a while. This is our favourite Enid Blyton story and one we have read several times.
June 24, 2025
Back to my childhood again!! Mike, Peggy, Nora and their friend Jack are the children in this story. They run away because of the ill treatment they are receiving from relatives.
Not a lot happens in this book, no real adventures and yet it really works. It's mainly about the children's day to day life on the island. How they coped with living arrangements, the weather and their biggest challenge of all, getting food.
I loved this book when I was young, I wanted to escape to the island myself.
An enjoyable, fast read.
24/6/2025
A little light reading after Captain Blood.
Not a lot happens in this book, no real adventures and yet it really works. It's mainly about the children's day to day life on the island. How they coped with living arrangements, the weather and their biggest challenge of all, getting food.
I loved this book when I was young, I wanted to escape to the island myself.
An enjoyable, fast read.
24/6/2025
A little light reading after Captain Blood.
March 27, 2007
I came to the "secret" series late, but I think this may be one of my new favorite children's adventure books. It was different from the other adventure series because the main characters, four children, actually run away in the book, which leads them to their adventures.
Three siblings are forced to live with their cruel aunt and uncle, who work them to the bone, after their pilot parents go missing. They befriend an orphaned neighbor boy and the four of them hatch a plot to run away from their bad situations. Their adventures start after they have lived on a secret island in the middle of a gigantic lake.
This book could have stood alone, but Enid Blyton extended it into an adventure series. This is arguably the best of that series because it is fresh; the remaining stories fall into the typical (but wonderful!) Blyton adventure template.
Three siblings are forced to live with their cruel aunt and uncle, who work them to the bone, after their pilot parents go missing. They befriend an orphaned neighbor boy and the four of them hatch a plot to run away from their bad situations. Their adventures start after they have lived on a secret island in the middle of a gigantic lake.
This book could have stood alone, but Enid Blyton extended it into an adventure series. This is arguably the best of that series because it is fresh; the remaining stories fall into the typical (but wonderful!) Blyton adventure template.
April 15, 2014
Yes, this is a re-read. I lost this book in 1990, when I moved from one country to another. The box that had this precious book just went missing, and by the time I was old enough to ask bookstores to order books in for me (before the age of Amazon), it went out of print... and now it's back.
The story is about four children who run away and live on a secret island. It's about their adventures, and their survival skills, about how they built a house for themselves, how they kept themselves fed. I love Enid Blyton for her portrayal of smart, strong, resourceful children, and these kids are no different. And yes, reading this book 24 years later, it is a little cheesy, and I think of things that are unresolved (eg, loo issues!) but I still love it!!!
The story is about four children who run away and live on a secret island. It's about their adventures, and their survival skills, about how they built a house for themselves, how they kept themselves fed. I love Enid Blyton for her portrayal of smart, strong, resourceful children, and these kids are no different. And yes, reading this book 24 years later, it is a little cheesy, and I think of things that are unresolved (eg, loo issues!) but I still love it!!!
October 23, 2012
I came across this book when I had to revisit Enid Blyton's works for my research. A friend told me that this is her most favourite Blytonian story. Driven by my curiosity, I decided to give it a try.
To my surprise, reading this story rekindled my childhood memories. Blyton managed to relive every fantasy that children have and save in their mind. No child does not think of building a life of their own, together with their friends and those close to them. It is the world of children, not the world as understood by children. There was no antagonist character in this book, making this a perfect sanctuary for children mind, creating spaces for them to escape the adult world.
The joyful life of children's world is added by Blyton's famous technique of describing food. She is the only one who can make sunny side egg the most delicious meal in the world. And with the plot progress, more and more simple meals came up and transformed into luxurious and appetizing meal.
To read this book under the theory of children's literature, Perry Nodelman will find a perfect example for his home - away - home. The Secret Island is really about how children construct their own place, their own world, their own lives without any interference from adults -though in the end they came back to the warm embrace of their parents. Even the initially parentless child gains parental figures in the end.
To my surprise, reading this story rekindled my childhood memories. Blyton managed to relive every fantasy that children have and save in their mind. No child does not think of building a life of their own, together with their friends and those close to them. It is the world of children, not the world as understood by children. There was no antagonist character in this book, making this a perfect sanctuary for children mind, creating spaces for them to escape the adult world.
The joyful life of children's world is added by Blyton's famous technique of describing food. She is the only one who can make sunny side egg the most delicious meal in the world. And with the plot progress, more and more simple meals came up and transformed into luxurious and appetizing meal.
To read this book under the theory of children's literature, Perry Nodelman will find a perfect example for his home - away - home. The Secret Island is really about how children construct their own place, their own world, their own lives without any interference from adults -though in the end they came back to the warm embrace of their parents. Even the initially parentless child gains parental figures in the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2018
Published 18 years after the first installment of The Boxcar Children, and boy does it show. I would not be at all surprised to discover that Blyton had read Warner's book and decided to put an English spin on it.
Three kids are left to the care of their abusive aunt and uncle after their parents disappear on a transoceanic flight. A neighbour boy is being half-arsed raised by his grandfather who really doesn't care if he's there or not. That makes two and two, a classic Blyton character list. They all run away to this tiny little island in the middle of a lake--which they are convinced nobody even knows is there!! These kids are obviously so self-absorbed that they think if they didn't realise it was there, nobody else did either. Never mind that the human habitation of Britain goes back to time immmemorial, and it was all mapped in detail by the 1930s!
Off they go in a leaky rowboat to set up house on this "secret" island, and that's where it gets really Boxcar. They build a hut out of willow stakes, the oldest girl takes along her sewing basket and works miracles of keeping their clothes wearable (never mind they're all at the age where they'd be growing like weeds) and the kids fed to bursting. They live on raspberries and cream and salad and fish caught from the lake. It is, of course, spring into summer when the story starts, so they can sleep rough and never feel it, and it very seldom rains or gets cold. The text tells us they got quite fat from all the cream and eggs, but their clothes held up!
These are decent middle-class English kids, you know, despite the fact that their wicked relations have kept them out of school up to now so they can slave at home. (Apparently Britain had no truant officers in those days. Their parents have only been missing for a few months, surely they'd be down on a district list somewhere?) That's what makes it perfectly all right for these upstanding Britons to steal whatever they can get their hands on from nasty Aunt and Uncle and Gramps! They raid both gardens regularly (and their stingy cheap relatives never notice?), lift whatever is not tied down from the outbuildings, and one boy even practices a bit of B & E so they can have some decent clothes to wear when theirs get shabby. I've noticed that in spite of the fact that in those days fabrics were made to last, whenever anyone in a 1930s story for kids camps on an island, such as The Castaways of Pete's Patch their clothes are in shreds after a very short time--sometimes, less than a week!
As usual in Blyton's wish-fulfillment stories, there's one lazy kid who has to learn her lesson about not letting the side down and not being a baby (ie no whining!). Of course it all works out in the end, and though we don't see it, the nasty relations are promised their comeuppance. The only strange part was their saying goodbye, goodbye to their island and abandoning the cow to her fate. However I have read that Blyton tended to make a single draft of her kids' stories, so maybe she wasn't worried about the details. An OK bedtime read.
Three kids are left to the care of their abusive aunt and uncle after their parents disappear on a transoceanic flight. A neighbour boy is being half-arsed raised by his grandfather who really doesn't care if he's there or not. That makes two and two, a classic Blyton character list. They all run away to this tiny little island in the middle of a lake--which they are convinced nobody even knows is there!! These kids are obviously so self-absorbed that they think if they didn't realise it was there, nobody else did either. Never mind that the human habitation of Britain goes back to time immmemorial, and it was all mapped in detail by the 1930s!
Off they go in a leaky rowboat to set up house on this "secret" island, and that's where it gets really Boxcar. They build a hut out of willow stakes, the oldest girl takes along her sewing basket and works miracles of keeping their clothes wearable (never mind they're all at the age where they'd be growing like weeds) and the kids fed to bursting. They live on raspberries and cream and salad and fish caught from the lake. It is, of course, spring into summer when the story starts, so they can sleep rough and never feel it, and it very seldom rains or gets cold. The text tells us they got quite fat from all the cream and eggs, but their clothes held up!
These are decent middle-class English kids, you know, despite the fact that their wicked relations have kept them out of school up to now so they can slave at home. (Apparently Britain had no truant officers in those days. Their parents have only been missing for a few months, surely they'd be down on a district list somewhere?) That's what makes it perfectly all right for these upstanding Britons to steal whatever they can get their hands on from nasty Aunt and Uncle and Gramps! They raid both gardens regularly (and their stingy cheap relatives never notice?), lift whatever is not tied down from the outbuildings, and one boy even practices a bit of B & E so they can have some decent clothes to wear when theirs get shabby. I've noticed that in spite of the fact that in those days fabrics were made to last, whenever anyone in a 1930s story for kids camps on an island, such as The Castaways of Pete's Patch their clothes are in shreds after a very short time--sometimes, less than a week!
As usual in Blyton's wish-fulfillment stories, there's one lazy kid who has to learn her lesson about not letting the side down and not being a baby (ie no whining!). Of course it all works out in the end, and though we don't see it, the nasty relations are promised their comeuppance. The only strange part was their saying goodbye, goodbye to their island and abandoning the cow to her fate. However I have read that Blyton tended to make a single draft of her kids' stories, so maybe she wasn't worried about the details. An OK bedtime read.
July 26, 2015
I borrowed this book from the library and read it just once when I was a kid, and it stuck with me for close to a decade after. Every now and again I'd remember of the tale of the children who hid their supplies in a hollow tree and set off to an island in a lake that nobody else had discovered, learning how to live from the land and almost getting caught by the grown ups. One day I couldn't bear it any longer and decided to track it down and read it.
I expected the story to be not nearly as good as I remembered, but I was wrong. The characterisation was almost non-existent, but this is forgivable for a children's book - and just about my only complaint. The plot was absolutely brilliant, and had some of the best pacing I've come across in a long time. At no point was I bored or frustrated, and I read the second half in one sitting purely because it was unputdownable - Blyton subtly incorporated a series of brilliant 'cliffhangers' that didn't seem forced, but left me positively craving more.
And don't even get me started on the ending...I don't want to spoil it, but let's just say it was gloriously original ending that I never would have guessed at the start, but realised how obvious it was after it was revealed. It topped off the whole story and reminded me of why I loved Enid Blyton so much as a child.
I don't believe there is a single person on this Earth - adult or child - who can't find even a little enjoyment out of this delightful tale.
I expected the story to be not nearly as good as I remembered, but I was wrong. The characterisation was almost non-existent, but this is forgivable for a children's book - and just about my only complaint. The plot was absolutely brilliant, and had some of the best pacing I've come across in a long time. At no point was I bored or frustrated, and I read the second half in one sitting purely because it was unputdownable - Blyton subtly incorporated a series of brilliant 'cliffhangers' that didn't seem forced, but left me positively craving more.
And don't even get me started on the ending...I don't want to spoil it, but let's just say it was gloriously original ending that I never would have guessed at the start, but realised how obvious it was after it was revealed. It topped off the whole story and reminded me of why I loved Enid Blyton so much as a child.
I don't believe there is a single person on this Earth - adult or child - who can't find even a little enjoyment out of this delightful tale.
July 3, 2012
I can't recall how many times I have read this book over and over...and over again.It was absolutely fascinating.Okay,maybe I'm exaggerating here.But this is my most-loved and favorite book so far.I had always loved classics.
A sort-of Robinson Crusoe story,only the children weren't shipwrecked.
The setting makes the story even more inviting and interesting.
I love the idea of living on a SECRET island.
I would definitely read this.....again.And again.
A sort-of Robinson Crusoe story,only the children weren't shipwrecked.
The setting makes the story even more inviting and interesting.
I love the idea of living on a SECRET island.
I would definitely read this.....again.And again.
February 25, 2021
Macam seronok jer kehidupan budak-budak tu di pulau rahsia.
December 11, 2014
I read this while ago and still remember the story. I'm not a die-hard fan of Blyton but she never fails to entertain me. The books I read on the Secret Series, I think I enjoyed than the Famous Five series.
February 12, 2018
One of my first Enid Blyton books and one of my favorites. Who wouldn't like the idea of camping on a quiet island, with your best friends, away from the hustle and bustle of the world :) Highly recommended.
May 10, 2009
My favourite Enid Blyton book
August 21, 2019
One of my absolute favourite childhood books and it didn't disappoint again with this reread at the age of 31!
October 15, 2023
Running away from mean relatives to an out-of-the way island, then growing runner beans and stumbling across wild strawberries and mushrooms, stealing cows in boats in the middle of the night, hiding from picnicking tourists, hunting rabbits, keeping cupboard in a cove and the hens in their coops, sleeping together on beds of heather, weaving baskets to sell in disguise in the village and buying luxuries like paper and thread and chocolate in return, building a house using trees in the wood and living in cosy caves in winter with makeshift tables and holiday decorations only to be reunited with the scientific parents thought to have died in a plane crash at the end... this was my idea of feel-good growing up!
June 21, 2021
do I even need to express my thought on the book...
I mean it is THE BEST ENID BLYTON BOOK I HAVE EVER READ IN MY LIFE!!!!!
It is way way better than secret seven and famous five for no doubt
I mean how did she even get such an incredible idea
I mean it is THE BEST ENID BLYTON BOOK I HAVE EVER READ IN MY LIFE!!!!!
It is way way better than secret seven and famous five for no doubt
I mean how did she even get such an incredible idea
August 11, 2024
A book which is of its time, but thankfully without the casual racism that sometimes involves (the rest of the series sails closer to that wind!). The gender roles here would not play today, but the story is entertaining enough for children, or for adults who have temporarily run out of other material to read. Admittedly I've already read most of it aloud to Matthew over the years, so it's a bit like an old familiar friend in some ways.
June 7, 2014
My mother was a great reader, who used to receive books for birthday and Christmas presents. One of her favourites was her copy of "The Secret Island", which she looked after well and let me have when I was little. This started my Enid Blyton phase and I treasured the book so much. One of the reasons may have been that I was lucky enough to have an uncle who owned a farm, with a small inhabitable island. I spent all my childhood summers there, so I could imagine myself running off to live on that island.
Enid Blyton has been much ridiculed for the "sexism" in her books, but they were of a different era, and that was actually how things were in society. It's social history, in some ways. What sets her stories apart is the way they appeal to the imagination of children from many different generations. I have been reading the Secret series to my 6-7 year old pupils, and their parents have been forced to buy the books from Amazon and Ebay.
Like another reviewer, I do smile over the lack of explanation of "loo" issues (including for the cow ;-)). But the description of the food, and the resourcefulness and bravery of the children is just wonderful, and I still adore the way the children are able to take risks and go off by themselves - unlike the children nowadays, who have to be supervised so closely in this age of health and safety. No wonder modern children love these stories. And how sad that they can only imagine what such freedom would be like.
Enid Blyton has been much ridiculed for the "sexism" in her books, but they were of a different era, and that was actually how things were in society. It's social history, in some ways. What sets her stories apart is the way they appeal to the imagination of children from many different generations. I have been reading the Secret series to my 6-7 year old pupils, and their parents have been forced to buy the books from Amazon and Ebay.
Like another reviewer, I do smile over the lack of explanation of "loo" issues (including for the cow ;-)). But the description of the food, and the resourcefulness and bravery of the children is just wonderful, and I still adore the way the children are able to take risks and go off by themselves - unlike the children nowadays, who have to be supervised so closely in this age of health and safety. No wonder modern children love these stories. And how sad that they can only imagine what such freedom would be like.
October 12, 2016
Loved all Enid blyton, but this was one of her best!
January 20, 2023
Such happy memories of reading this in childhood. The willow house has stuck with me- I'd love to make one.
March 22, 2019
Li-o tantas vezes quando era criança. Levou-me para um lugar só meu, organizado só por mim, longe de todos os males do mundo. Um refúgio importante na infância.
December 15, 2020
This book doesn't belong to one of Blyton's best-known series, but it was a really pleasant surprise for me. It has the feel of classic children's adventures like the Coral Island or Swallows and Amazons. Unlike other Blyton adventure stories, there are no criminals to fight against. It's just a group of children, mistreated orphans, who decide to run away together to an uninhabited island in the middle of a lake.
The story has good pacing and it's entertaining and moving. Really a wonderful read, in a style different from her other adventure series. It started a 5-book series, but it works perfectly as a standalone. Even if Blyton had not gone on to write so many other children's adventures and mysteries, this one would have been enough to ensure she was remembered among the classics of children's literature of the 20th century.
The story has good pacing and it's entertaining and moving. Really a wonderful read, in a style different from her other adventure series. It started a 5-book series, but it works perfectly as a standalone. Even if Blyton had not gone on to write so many other children's adventures and mysteries, this one would have been enough to ensure she was remembered among the classics of children's literature of the 20th century.
June 17, 2017
*3.5 stars*
I just really like survivalist stories, and the long and detailed narrative of how resourceful kids manage to survive on their own in an island is just really engrossing. Little details like the rabbitskin blanket and the fruit-selling just make me want to know more.
Points off because of prose and forgettability of characters, but I can tell you I DEVOURED this book when I first read it as a pre-teen.
I just really like survivalist stories, and the long and detailed narrative of how resourceful kids manage to survive on their own in an island is just really engrossing. Little details like the rabbitskin blanket and the fruit-selling just make me want to know more.
Points off because of prose and forgettability of characters, but I can tell you I DEVOURED this book when I first read it as a pre-teen.
November 3, 2020
A thoroughly enjoyable escapist fare. It's almost like Robinson Crusoe but for kids and with kids. Three children, who are mistreated by their uncle and aunt, escape with another boy to live on a secret Island. The book is all about how they make the island their own and how they sustain over many months. There are no villains etc here. This is just a pure sustenance experience of four children on a deserted island. This is a lot of fun, many hilarious moments and soo many ingenious ideas. Makes me wish for my own secret Island!
February 26, 2021
Once in a while it is fun to return to childhood and read some books for kids. 😀
I recommend it for kids, because it allows you to dream and imagine how it could be to live on your own and have some adventures!
I recommend it for kids, because it allows you to dream and imagine how it could be to live on your own and have some adventures!
April 6, 2018
Fabulous children's book and a good antidote to some of the other books I've been reading lately
July 27, 2018
I've read some Enid Blyton in my childhood but never got the chance to read The Secret Island. Always wanted to but never did until now, when I'm almost twenty-one, in university, trying very much to do some adulting, failing.
The Secret Island is a tale of four children who run away from home to live on an island and boy oh boy do they live! These kids have better survival skills than Bear Grylls apparently.
I loved reading the story. It was light, fun and cute.
The Secret Island is a tale of four children who run away from home to live on an island and boy oh boy do they live! These kids have better survival skills than Bear Grylls apparently.
I loved reading the story. It was light, fun and cute.
February 4, 2021
I wonder if i have read this book when i was a child... anyhow, I greatly enjoyed this book! It is heartwarming, hilarious and full of adventure!
June 28, 2022
my favourite childhood read
February 25, 2023
I LOVED THIS BOOK, i read the translation but oh my god!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 246 reviews