Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit We Want Republished! discussion

Books for Keeps has a Malcom Saville bio:
Malcolm Saville was born in Hastings in 1901 and 'went to
boarding school at nine; something I've never regretted.'
His first job was with Oxford University Press 'looking out
books for booksellers' orders'; the start of a lifetime in pub-
lishing. Publicity, editing, writing: he's done it all. The
writing started with football reports. 'I got £1 a match. It
was wonderful training. You had to write at terrific speed.'
Writing for children began in 1942. His family were in
Shropshire at a farm ('Coombe Head — not far from Witch-
end') discovered in the uneasy pre-war period. In Hertford-
shire as Deputy Night Controller for the ARP two nights a
week, he began a story set in Shropshire. 'I suppose I owe a
great debt to Arthur Ransome; he used genuine backgrounds
and my daughters liked reading him.' He sent Mystery at
Witchend to his daughters who loved it. Was it written
specially for them? 'Oh, no. I was in the business. It was
definitely for publication.'
Newnes took it. Then I had the luck that every author
wants.' It got on Children's Hour ('beautifully dramatised
by Barbara Sleigh') and was a great success.
There are now twenty Lone Pine books, plus The Bucking-
hams, 'Michael and Mary', 'Susan and Bill' for younger
readers, the 'Nettlefold' books,the Jillies, lots of non-fiction
and (his particular favourite) seven Marston Baines stories.
Written for 14 to 15-year-olds, these secret service thrillers
with an all-adult cast, foreign settings and a dash of ('very
pure') romance are now being avidly read by fans of eleven
and up who complain that they are not in paperback. The
fight is against (in turn) drug trafficking, smuggling, racism,
Satanism — anything which threatens individual liberty and
freedom of speech. While some children may see the issues,
most seem simply to enjoy the general mix. 'Dagger and the
Flame was the best suspense you ever kept me in.' 'While I
was reading Dark Danger my legs went like jelly. I was so
excited and frightened my tummy felt quite peculiar. I feel
I want to read it again and again.'
Accused of being 'middle-class' and 'old-fashioned' (the
stories have been cut and modernised — he thinks badly —
for paperback), he says of his Lone Piners, 'What they are
and how they behave is very much more important than the way they speak. I don't think they live in an idealised
world.' There are happy endings and unambiguous morality
but 'I think children need that kind of certainty. The world
is an ugly enough place.'
His readers (2 million Lone Pine books sold) seem to agree.
The stories apparently are compulsive. 'My brother doesn't
read very much. I think you may have changed that. He
borrowed my Mystery at Witchend yesterday and now he's
nearly finishing Seven White Gates.'
Recent work includes some countryside books (Wild
Flowers through the Year, Transworld, is due in August)
and an anthology. Words for All Seasons, Lutterworth. 'I've
wanted to do it for years. I've put in all the things that have
meant a great deal to me.' But all his readers want to know,
'will there be another Lone Pine book?' 'I think I'm going
to write one. The problem is do I go back in time? You see
I've really tied everything up in Home to Witchend. I think
I will have to go back and give as much space as I can to the
twins'

Photo captions:
Chelsea Cottage, Winchelsea,
Sussex (Malcolm Seville's
well-known address) is one of
two white-painted nineteenth-
century cottages built, so the
story goes, by a sea captain with the money
from a salvage operation. Chelsea Cottage
(on the right) is named after his ship; next
door after the ship he salvaged.
The sitting-room bookshelves hold several
spy stories. 'I'm an addict, especially for
John Le Carre.' Upstairs, past a 'gallery' of
photographs of his four children and twelve
grandchildren, in a tiny room with a dormer
window (in the picture) a wall of bbookshelves holds copies of the 85 books
(many of them in different editions) he has
written for children. Here Malcolm Saville
works at his books and at keeping in touch
with the thousands of children who write to
him (every day brings a batch of letters).
Twice a year he writes and prints a
newsletter about himself and his books
which goes to every child who sends a
second-class stamp. The back of his door is
covered with photographs sent by readers.

Malcolm Saville has a way with places
They seem to come alive on the page and even though I
have visited some of the places before I want to see them
again when I've read a story set there.' — So says a reader
A Saville tour takes in Shropshire, especially the Long Mynd,
Sussex, especially Rye, Suffolk (Southwold), Yorkshire (Whitby),
London, Dartmoor, Cornwall (Marazion), Dorset (Lyme Regis),and
abroad with Marston Baines to Provence, Luxembourg, Amsterdam,
Italy (Venice and Rome), Mallorca, Brittany and the Dolomites.
Here's a glimpse of the real background to some of the Lone Pine
stories
BOOKS FOR KEEPS No. 3 JULY 1980 15
Malcolm Saville has a way with places
They seem to come alive on the page and even though I
have visited some of the places before I want to see them
again when I've read a story set there.' — So says a reader
A Saville tour takes in Shropshire, especially the Long Mynd,
Sussex, especially Rye, Suffolk (Southwold), Yorkshire (Whitby),
London, Dartmoor, Cornwall (Marazion), Dorset (Lyme Regis),and
abroad with Marston Baines to Provence, Luxembourg, Amsterdam,
Italy (Venice and Rome), Mallorca, Brittany and the Dolomites.
Here's a glimpse of the real background to some of the Lone Pine
stories.
Leintwardine, alias
Bringewood Chase
in The Secret of
the Gorge — the
old stone bridge
over the River
Teme.
Marshbrook alias 'Onnybrook' — the level
crossing and signal box 'where Dickie longed
to pull the levers'.
The altar of Mithras at
Stone-in-Oxney Church,
Sussex, from Treasure
at Amorys.
&-e*M
Clun — 'one of the quietest places under the
sun'. But not in The Secret of Grey Walls
where the Lone Piners set up camp in the
ruined castle and help to foil a gang of
sheep-stealer
Top left: Hatch Holt is really New Pool
Hollow in Shropshire.
Mid left: From The Elusive Grasshopper,
Watchbell Street (Traders Street) and
Hope Anchor Hotel (The Gay Dolphin)
in Rye.
There was the larch wood clinging to the
side of the steep valley. There was the house
itself with its two gabled windows under the
roof, leaning against the hillside. There was
the white gate between the low stone walls
just where the lane stopped, and there was
the same stream . . . singing down the side
of the lane towards Ingles.' — Lone Pine
Five. Prior's Holt —the model forWitchend—
and Hamperley —the original of Ingles
Farm.
Photographs in this section provided by
Malcolm Saville.
What kind of a person is Malcolm
Saville?
Lively, energetic, friendly, a compulsive and
enthusiastic talker. He holds firmly to
'traditional values'. 'I'm a very strong
believer in family life' and, like the Lone
Piners, thinks friendship and loyalty are
important. Although officially retired.
there's still 'lots to do'. Apart from writing,
lecturing and keeping in touch with readers,
he shares many interests with his wife. They
love 'travelling, walking, the theatre and
being together'. They dislike 'people who
drop litter'. There are 'two children and their
families within reach', 'plenty of friends'
and a 'fierce social life in Winchelsea'.
Above all he is a professional. If every
publisher promoted books as energetically
as Malcolm Saville there would be a lot
more children reading. Like every writer he
wants to be read and to make sure that
children can get hold of his books when
they want them. (He's a supporter of school
bookshops.) 'I don't think a professional
writer can ever really stop.'
How are the books written?
'I'm first influenced by a place. I read it up
and find out all I can about it. I study maps.
Sometimes it's a newspaper item that
'If there were many writers
like you, many more people
would read out of school
time.' (A 13-year-old)
Malcolm Saville at the door
where messages like this
arrive by letter and in person.
arouses my interest. I went to Southwold
because I'd read about the east coast floods
and thought it might make a story.' (It
did — Sea Witch Comes Home.) The
windmill in the picture which appears in
The Gay Dolphin Adventure is in
Winchelsea. For the Marston Baines stories
he visited every location. The settings are as
real as he can make them and when he takes
liberties with reality the readers are told in
an introduction.
'I don't write any fiction unless it is very
carefully plotted. I do a synopsis, chapter
by chapter, with dialogue, character notes,
what I want the reader to know. This goes
to my editor.' When the synopsis is clear,
the writing starts. 'I write in pencil,
ballpoint or pen, as the mood suits me, on
the back of old typescripts. I'm not awfully
fond of typewriters. The next morning I
correct in another colour.' It then goes
chapter by chapter to a typist he's met once
in 35 years. 'She can read my writing.' In
all a book usually takes four to five months.
There's only one golden rule. 'Have a
curtain to every chapter. They must read
on. I've failed unless a child wants to read on.'

Malcolm Saville's books are published in
hardback by Heinemann, Collins and
Lutterworth.and in paperback as Armada
Lions, Asian Lions, Transworld How and
Why, Carousel and Knight.

I just saw "Altar of Mithras", and realised that this is going to be an expensive day - I NEED to read Treasure at Amorys!

Anyone read any of the Lone Pine books? :)

I've only got The Sign of the Alpine Rose, and I haven't even read it yet.. :S

I've read the first Lone Pine (Mystery at Witch End) and loved it. I'd like to read more eventually. The Girls Gone By reissues are lovely but even they are out of print and expensive now.

Thanks, Michael. :) I ordered it - appreciated the vote of confidence. I got an old paperback for 9.40 GBP, so that's not too bad. Not 'collectable', of course, but I don't much mind. :) The new Girls Gone By are more anyway, and as you say, once they're gone, they tend to only increase in price!

I used to enjoy Malcolm Saville's books set in the countryside, such as Redshank's Warning, Sea Witch Comes Home and Saucers Over The Moor. Then I read Marston - Master Spy which put me off. It made me feel the writer had political views slightly to the right of Joseph Goebbels. Not a comfortable read.

The Girls Gone By issues are so good - reprints done right (though they aren't hardcover), with both original and alternative illustrations, detailed publishing history, full bibliography, and other editorial comments. Due to publisher carelessness, sometimes these can be better than later original printings.

GGB did the first book in 2006 and reprinted it in 2015 - alas, I don't think we can wish for a 2024 reprint to maintain the schedule. But maybe someday....

Len wrote: "I used to enjoy Malcolm Saville's books set in the countryside, such as Redshank's Warning, Sea Witch Comes Home and Saucers Over The Moor. Then I r..."

:S

I would not enjoy that sentiment, no.

I enjoyed Redshanks Warning but didn’t mange to get into a couple of others I tried to read.