Looking For Enid
The Mysterious and Inventive Life of Enid Blyton
Portobello Books

Dust-jacket blurb from the hardback edition pictured:
ENID BLYTON gave us the Famous Five and Fatty's Find-Outers, the Enchanted Wood and the Wishing Chair. Some of us, encouraged by austere critics, have pretended no longer to want what Enid gave. We have pretended that we were not once upon a time enthralled by every book she wrote, all 600+ of them. We have chosen to forget how much we loved the time we spent in their company. And we have feigned disdain. Now Duncan McLaren offers lapsed devotees the possibility of honest redemption. If you're willing to acknowledge that Enid Blyton once mattered, enormously, to you, you are warmly invited to accompany Duncan and Kate on an adventure that will investigate what made Enid Enid and endeavour to reach the source of her torrent of stories, the stories that came when she was 'letting her mind go free'.

Duncan writes:
The Blyton collection of Enid's daughter, Gillian, was recently sold at auction. I bought the set of Fatty and the Find Outers books, partly because each chapter in my book ends with a pastiche of this series. Some of Gillian's collection was originally her mother's. At the front of The Mystery of the Hidden House, its author has written in ink: 'This book belongs to Enid Blyton. Please return to Green Hedges, Beaconsfield.' Well, sorry Enid, but the book is staying where it is for now.

Press quotes:
'Looking for Enid opens with an ambiguity: is it Enid Blyton's life that is properly described as 'mysterious and inventive' in its subtitle, or Duncan McLaren's 'Life' of Blyton? Both, in fact, as the present author undertakes his search for the past author in a curious and constructive, or reconstructive, way. McLaren keeps his childhood delight in the story, while giving free rein to an adult investigation of its sources. Sources and forces - erotic, therapeutic, but never too serious – are what animate his book, as he goes about the business of getting to the bottom of Blyton with charm and ingenuity. The effect of Looking for Enid's abundant idiosyncrasies is disorientating, illuminating and entertaining, affording a way into all manner of mysteries, enchantments and secrets.'
Patricia Craig, The Independent

'Hurrah for Little Noddy! Hurrah for Enid Blyton! And Hurrah for Duncan McLaren's horribly hilarious, hideously brilliant quest to discover what made Enid tick. Believe me I laughed so hard at one point that I spat out the vodka - oops! I mean ginger beer – that I was sipping, and drenched my dog… With irony skipping pixie-like across every page, his entire book is a wicked wind up.'
Val Hennessy, The Daily Mail

'Looking For Enid is a romp around the various Blytonian sites. It's cheerful and inventive – packed with pastiche, imaginary encounters and literary criticism. Imagine Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with lashings of ginger beer instead of hallucinogenics.'
Frank Cottrell Boyce, The Times

'McLaren's background as a respected writer on the many sillinesses of contemporary art practice suits him well in this whimsical, often hilarious examination of Blyton's life and work. Starting with Proust, McLaren ends with the claim that Blyton is up there with Isaac Newton. To his credit, we are never quite sure whether he is being serious or playing an extended jeu d'esprit.'
Marc Lambert, Scotland on Sunday

'There is something moving about this enterprise. McLaren, a genuine enthusiast, readily refers to "the trainspotting sector of my brain" and maintains an ironic awareness of what he is doing. '
Joanna Briscoe, The Guardian

The book can be bought here: Looking For Enid

 

OPEN LETTER to artists Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie (that’s Nina and Karen dressed in matching red capes, standing in front of the Bata-ville coach in the photo below):

Dear Nina and Karen,

I was researching a talk for students at Gray’s School of Art the other day (October 18, 2011) when something struck me. I’d always been aware that I began to write my book on Enid Blyton just after returning from the Tömas Bata coach journey that you brilliantly organised. I acknowledge the link in the first chapter of my book, accepting that the layered way you went about your search for the founder of Bata Shoes should guide me in my search for the extraordinary author of Blyton books.

But there’s more to it than that, I now realise. I’d like to direct your attention to the 1-star reviews of Looking For Enid that have been posted on Amazon:

1) This is from ‘Tim’:
‘I can't understand the repeated references in some of these reviews that Duncan McLaren's "Looking for Enid" is one really for Blyton fans/enthusiasts, it most certainly is not. Blyton fans are interested in Blyton, this is not about Blyton at all but much more about the author. It is rambling and self-indulgent with bizarre and groundless ideas, and so desperate for material is Mr. McLaren by the end of his book that he bores us all to death with accounts of his sexual activity one night in a Swanage B&B. (YAAAAAAAAWNNN!)

‘The book starts weakly and goes steadily downhill all the way, finishing up with cheap, "Ooo-er missus" accounts of McLaren's sexual activities in his Swanage B&B - and this in a book which claims it is about Enid Blyton.’

2) This is from ‘SH’:
‘This was a really poor book. It was far more about Duncan McLaren than Enid Blyton. If you want to read about him trecking around the Enid Blyton trail and providing a load of psychobabble to 'explain' away Blyton, then go ahead and read it. But if, like me, you are totally uninterested in McLaren and so find such comments as “We're lying in bed after some late-night activity. I hope we've not been making too much noise” is too much personal information about what he got up to with his “girlfriend” Kate in yet another B&B, then take my advice and spend your money on something far more worthy. There are so many good books out there, don't waste your time and money on this one.’

3) And this is from ‘Furries’:
‘What a load of cr*p. Unfortunately, there is no eloquent way to put it. As previously mentioned by other reviewers, this book is one of the most self-indulgent works ever to be read (please note that I am yet to read any of Katie Price's autobiographies!). Although I grew up being an avid fan of Enid Blyton's stories, this book was nothing but a chore to get through. I found myself skipping sections, namely McLaren's banal attempts at writing in the style of Enid, in order to get some real factual detail about the incredibly talented author. I honestly couldn't give two hoots about what McLaren got up to in his search, as even his account of the 'journey' lacked any real substance. All I can say is poor Kate....’

I suspect that these three reviewers travelled on the Bata-ville coach to the Czech Republic, the week that we all discovered that hell was other people. The first night I had to share a room with Tim (the first reviewer?) who snored so loudly that it was obvious I would not be sleeping one wink. Does this explain why I mention – clearly in a memorable way - the level of sound in the Swanage B&B when I was sleeping with Kate, who, as you know, I met on the Bata-ville bus and have been living with since?

Being in the same room as Tim was a revelation. Knowing I wouldn’t get any sleep, I let go of my anxiety, relaxed completely and listened to music all night. By dawn I realized something that has stayed with me to this day – that I am not afraid of the future.

Thank you, Tim. Thank you, Kate. Thank you, exemplary artists, Nina and Karen.

Warmest wishes, Duncan

PS If you look closely at the photo of the coach which precedes this letter, you can see my arm pointing towards the 'WE ARE NOT AFRAID OF THE FUTURE' slogan. That was me reminding myself, just a few days after the sleepless night revelation, of my new, FEARLESS, status.