Four Plus Bunkle

Bunkle #1

by M. Pardoe

This is the first in the 'Bunkle' series about the de Salis family, in which we meet Jill, Robin and Bunkle, so named by his brother and sister because they say he talks such a lot of bunk. They are having an average sort of holiday: Bunkle is infuriating his older siblings, and the most important thing any of them have to think about is the hotel tennis tournament. Then their mother is called away, their governess is taken ill and they find an injured British Secret Service Agent in the hotel, who charges them with taking top secret papers to their father who is also in the Intelligence Service. There follows a race across France and Switzerland...

Paperback

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

Margot Pardoe was a children's author. She wrote as M. Pardoe, and is best known for her Bunkle adventure series.

Reviews

[Lucy Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the Bunkle series as a child. Several were set during the war, and were good on practical details. The cupboard that seems to relay Morse code - the corset bones used for dowsing - the car made out of two bicycles, an old pram and a couple of waterproof capes. Do NOT try this at home - nor the handy burgling method using honey spread on a paper bag to break a window. The yarns are ripping, and feature thrilling aspects like all-night train journeys and a dashing pilot who hops around the Scottish islands in an "autogyro".

In one of the most memorable Bunkle, aged 14, gets a job in a hotel and befriends one of the other servants by bossily telling her how to lay a fire properly. "That's how mummy does it." He asks her out and she turns up in a dress and high heels. He makes her trek over a heath to witness a starlings' murmuration and moot, though he has the decency to treat her to a good tea afterwards. Eventually his family run him down, but not before he has rescued some hens during a flood and half-poisoned the staff. His parting words to the girlfriend are "Get a perm!"

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ripping, enjoyable adventure!

[Kate McGhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting, fast-moving pre-war children’s adventure with moments of French dialogue to compliment the French Riviera and alpine Swiss settings. For a book written in the 1930s, the de Salis siblings feel smart, likably written and courageous.