Witchend: Saucers Over the Moor

Lone Pine #8

by Malcolm Saville

Jon drew in his breath sharply and pointed with a shaking hand.
A strange object was rising in the night sky, surrounded by a soft glow of the rosy light... Penny choked back a scream: this was something she did not understand, and she feared and hated it.
But there was someone else watching from the shadows, someone who made the dangerous mistake of underestimating the Lone Piners.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Adventure, British Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

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

[Selaya Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I thought this would be absolutely the most unbelievable story in the Lone Pine series but, having read it, I find it just as plausible as some of the rest. Let's face it, some of the inventions and developments of the last century or two were once deemed at least unlikely if not impossible. Think of computers, cell phones and the like. I also have visited Dartmoor and the descriptions of the various locations are spot on. I also like Peter's comment about "making a good job of this planet" before we go searching for other worlds. Words to ponder I think.

[^ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sight of this book (just how cool is that cover-star jellyfish of a flying saucer?) prompted in me a vague recollection of the author’s name. This is the first of his Lone Pine books that I’ve come across. I like children’s books of the 1920 to c.1975 period because the characters within them have well imagined real adventures. What I hate is republication where the original text has been sanitised so as to be politically correct and not offend so-called ‘modern sensibilities.

The action of “Saucers Over The Moor” (great title!) takes place in Rye (in Sussex) and Dartmoor (in Devon). What do I mean by ‘real adventures’? Well, for a start, just take a squint at this excerpt from the Contents list:
I Home Again
II The First Saucer
III The Second Saucer
V The Stolen Bicycle
VII 564?
VIII The Man With Sandy Hair
IX Enemies In The Air
XII Penny In Danger
XIII The Truth At Last

All the action (of which there is plenty) is achieved with the absolute minimum of adult knowledge and assistance, and absolutely no mobile phones whatsoever. Indeed, the parents hosting the Dartmoor house-party of children (they were not called ‘teenagers’, let alone ‘young persons’ in those days (1955)); would to present day mores appear positively and dangerously irresponsible when they selfishly swan off to Cornwall for an undefined number (‘few’) of days, leaving the (male) hired help to keep an eye on the youngsters. Some assumptions that the children make thankfully turn out the right way (after all, this is a novel of fiction). Despite the probabilities thrown up within the action of the plot, everything does end very Happy Ever After. No Harry Potter angst here!

I think the following soupçon of a trifle of lines taken from each of the thirteen chapters should be sufficient to whet readers appetites without giving away anything that could possibly in the slightest way be construed useful or helpful whatsoever. Those that get seriously hooked might care to take a squint at http://www.malcolmsaville.co.uk/

“Brass gleamed behind windows, geraniums flamed in window boxes, and gaily coloured nasturtiums rioted up doorposts.” (p.15); “The man with the binoculars and the bandaged hand had vanished without a sound.” (p.38); “Top secret station. Maybe it’s just a name like XA6?” (p.47); “I’m going to send a report to the Interplanetary Society and I want you and my mother to sign it.” (p.58); “He thinks you’re a good steady chap with tidy habits.” (p.70); “A chap gets a lot of disappointments, however smart he is” (p.94); “Even if what you’ve both seen in [sic] frightfully important I don’t like it.” (p.99); “There was an old-fashioned roll-top desk by the window, a shiny black horse-hair sofa and two chairs to match, and a solid circular table in the centre of which was an aspidistra in a pot.” (p.111); “ ‘This piece of furniture fascinates me’, Penny said” (p.130); “He looked none the worse for his wetting of yesterday and smiled at two of his fellow guests who were already settled in deck chairs with their papers.” (p.146); “David had been certain that the helicopter which they had seen earlier was not the one he had seen yesterday … had even said that it wasn’t British.” (p.155); “ ‘We’ll eat Mackie [the dog] first,’ Jon said grimly and then apologised.” (p.165); “They’ve had enough of Cornwall already. Daddy is missing his fishing and they both think we must be terribly bored.” (p.188).

[Greyscotty · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting storyline. The premise of Britain testing flying saucers is fascinating to be sure. Also the plot having "unidentified" agents out to snag the secrets; well, this has to be Malcolm's most adventurous tale yet! I do especially like the line spoken by one of the characters: "Can't we make a good job of this planet first?"

[Hugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still got it. Still love it.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the eighth in the Lone Pine adventure series for younger teenagers. I suppose I must have read it a couple of times before, but I didn't remember it at all, unlike many of the others.

It's not one of my favourites. In the Armada abridged version, there's very little character development in this book although reading in the GGBP full edition, it's much more enjoyable.

However the adventure is a bit too unlikely, with secret service agents, flying saucers, and spies. As ever, the children are brave and resourceful, overcoming kidnappings, fights and imprisonment without any serious harm. Somehow it all seems a little dated, but that's not surprising as it was written in the 1950s.

Recommended as part of the series for teens who like this kind of adventure story, and nostalgic adults who discovered the Lone Piners in their own teenage years.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

MS is good at describing bleak places, so when I finally visited Dartmoor many years after first reading the book, I recognised what I was looking at. And five stars for this one, because it's a cracking story, even if it does involve flying saucers (although frankly they are more believable than the apparent ability of the Lone Piners to undertake a 17 mile bike ride at the drop of a hat). An exciting climax even by Lone Pine standards, and Jon's choice of words after knocking out Green adds some unintentional humour for the modern reader.

[JUDITH · Rating 3 out of 5]

Journey down memory lane to some of my childhood favourite reading. Saville introduced me to many magical place names and I was lucky enough to explore their charms in later years. The language used by his characters comes from the world of the '50s and sounds so innocent and amusing to the modern ear. Now we have drones in our lives, this book seems a little on the prophetic side while it was science fiction at the time.