Last Term at Malory Towers

Enid Blyton's Last Term at Malory Towers is a boarding school story for 9 year olds about Darrell's final summer at the school, and it's a bit of a lump-in-the-throat one.

What happens

Darrell is head-girl of the whole school now. She'll be eighteen on her next birthday and she's off to university with Sally in the autumn. Everything is the last time. The last drive down, the last first glimpse of the grey towers above the sea.

Felicity, cheerfully, tells her to stop being so mournful.

There's plenty to stop anyone moping for long, though. Two new girls have arrived in the sixth. Suzanne is Mam'zelle Rougier's niece from France and answers everything with "Police?", which is how she says please (she understands a LOT more than she lets on).

Then there's Amanda. Her old school, famous for sport, has burnt down, and she announces at supper that she's going in for the Olympic Games. She also makes it plain she doesn't think much of Malory Towers at games. You can imagine how that goes down with Sally, who's games captain!

Some of the loveliest bits are the quiet ones. The old friends crowd into Darrell's study and talk about what they'll do next. Mary-Lou is going to train as a children's nurse. Bill and Clarissa are starting a riding school together. And they all agree they can't be very grown up yet, because they're still always hungry.

Then Darrell takes the new girls in to see Miss Grayling and hears the same words the Head said to her at twelve. If your reader has been with Darrell since her first term, that might make them a little misty.

There's still Gwen, too, as spoilt as ever and arguing with her father about a finishing school. Miss Grayling quietly asks Darrell to see if she can help.

It's worth knowing that this one isn't kind about bodies. Amanda is a great hefty girl and a great lump, and a girl called Jo and her father get called fat with piggy eyes. That comes from the storytelling as well as the characters. The girls are also nearly grown women, so careers and university are a big part of it. A child who's loved the series will want it anyway, but a reader who's sensitive about their size might want you close by.

What to read next

If Suzanne and her "Police?" are what make them laugh, Claudine at St Clare's has Mam'zelle's own niece arriving from France at another Blyton school, and she's even less bothered by the rules. (It's a later St Clare's book, so the girls there already know each other well.)