The House in Cornwall was first published in serial form
in 1939-40, and as a book in 1940. The US edition (1940) was entitled
The Secret of the Lodge. It is now out of print.
Story | Background
| Thoughts | Editions
and Availability
Story
John, Sorrel, Wish and Edward Chandler have to spend the summer
with Uncle Murdock, their father's half brother. They have not
met Uncle Murdock before, as he mostly lived in Livia, first working
to dethrone the royal family, and then as as Chief of Staff for
Manoff, the dictator who took over. However, since a counter-revolution,
Uncle Murdock has been back in England, living in his large house
in Cornwall. Manoff, the former dictator, is also there as his
guest.
The children find that they are virtual prisoners. They are given
no access to newspapers or the radio, and when they are taken
to the beach, they are closely watched. At night they hear the
sound of a child crying in the gardener's house, so they determine
to find out what is going on.
Background
The House in Cornwall was written in the early stages
of the Second World War, at a time when Noel was busy with war
work, and was unable to do any research for her books. However,
she still had to write, as she needed the income, so she therefore
wrote a fairly standard children's adventure story. It was initially
published in serial format in The Girl's Own Paper.
Thoughts
(This section contains "spoilers" for those who have
not read the book.)
The House in Cornwall is not one of Noel's best books.
It relies on the clichéd, and highly unrealistic, formula of a
group of children defeating a gang of adult criminals. Angela
Bull feels that "Everything Noel usually stood for in
children's books - well-observed characters, a basis of solid
fact combined with realistic detail, sheer good sense - are lost
in this morass of unlikely inventions" (1984:177).
Although written during the Phoney War, The House in Cornwall
is not given a specific wartime setting. It is rather a generic
"holiday adventure story". The plot is quite similar
to that of Enid Blyton's The Secret of Spiggy Holes, also
serialised and then published as a book in 1940. This comparison
has been made by Angela Bull
- who points out that both books "concentrate on unremitting
action at the expense of character and atmosphere" (1984:178)
- and also by Sheila Ray in her 1982 work The Blyton Phenomenon
(London, Andre Deutsch Limited):
Both stories are set in Cornwall, both sets of parents are
absent, Enid Blyton's Peggy and Noel Streatfeild's Sorrel are
domesticated girls, the English children feel great sympathy
for the kidnapped boy, aeroplanes land on convenient lawns and
fields at the climax of both stories, when each party has rescued
its own Ruritanian prince or, in Noel Streatfeild's case, king.
(Ray, 1982:168)
Ray feels that the plot of The House in Cornwall "is,
if anything, even less credible [than The Secret of Spiggy
Holes]" (1982:168). While this may be true, the degree
of characterisation Noel infuses into her story sets it apart
from The Secret of Spiggy Holes. Sorrel does not merely
fill the role of "domesticated sister" (so common in
the works of Enid Blyton): we are also given an insight into her
struggles to overcome her own fears. Although she lacks the subtlety
of, for example, Susan in Tennis
Shoes, Sorrel, and to a lesser extent her brothers and
sister, are more individually realised, and believable, than the
characters in Blyton's book.
One odd - and somewhat disconcerting feature - of The House
in Cornwall is the use of the name Manoff for the villainous
dictator. Readers of Ballet
Shoes will recall that Manoff is the name of the great
ballet dancer, who agrees to teach Posy. It may require a degree
of mental adjustment to accept this name being reused for such
a totally different character.
Editions and Availability
UK Editions
The House in Cornwall was first published in serial form
in The Girls Own Paper. There were ten episodes, running
from October 1939 to July 1940. This was also available within
Volume 61 of The Girls Own Annual.
Immediately after the serialisation, still in 1940, J. M. Dent
& Sons published it in book form, with illustrations by D.
L. Mays. It was reissued a number of times by Dent, including
a 1956 "LYTS" edition, and 1966 "Pennant Books".
The 1966 release was a revised edition: this
amended text may have also appeared in earlier editions. I do
not have a copy of this edition, so I am unable to say what the
revisions consisted of.
In 1968, Dragon Books released an unillustrated paperback. The
text appears to be identical with that of the first edition, with
the exception that some long paragraphs are broken up into two
or more smaller paragraphs. Rather confusingly, the copyright
in this edition is attributed to Enid Blyton: I am assuming this
is an error.
US Editions
The US edition, retitled The Secret of the Lodge and illustrated
by Richard Floethe, was published by Random House in 1940.
There do not appear to have been any reissues of The Secret
of the Lodge.
As I have not read the US edition, I do not know if the text
was in any way amended.
Out of Print
The House in Cornwall /The Secret of the Lodge is
out of print, and relatively rare. In February 2004, second
hand copies through online booksellers start in price at around
£7 for the Dragon paperback, with hardcover editions being more
expensive. (Source: Addall
Used and Out of Print Book Search.)
