If you'd told me when I was ten years old that I'd still enjoy a Famous Five tale 30 years later I'd have been thrilled. If you'd told me that at 15 I'd have been mortified. Such is the inextricable (and uncool) bond that Enid Blyton's youthful sleuths have with childhood, innocence, and jolly good fun.
But things have changed and so have George, Dick, Anne, Julian and Timmy. Get ready for "Enid Blyton for Grown-ups".
The former Dorset-based cousins now flat together in London, have office jobs, mobile phones, and drinking problems (Julian). It's now less "lashings of ginger beer" and more "out on the lash at the local". Author Bruno Vincent's reworking of Blyton's much beloved characters incorporates humorous observations on modern life, knowing nods, and is positively soaked in irony.
Take, for example, George's response to Anne's suggestion that they all chip in for a Mother's Day gift for Aunt Fanny, since she was practically a second mother to them all during their summers in Kirrin.
...My memory is that we were nearly killed about two dozen times. I think Mummy should count herself lucky to have escaped a custodial sentence for neglect...
Five Forget Mother's Day sees the now young professionals grappling with mysteries of the "what do we get Aunt Fanny for Mother's Day?" variety.
It's a fun, quick read that somehow manages to be witty and modern whilst still retaining that "don't worry, old bean, we'll all muck in together and get through this sticky wicket" attitude that typified the original Famous Five.
An unexpected benefit of this particular title in the series (others on my "to read" list include "Five Go Parenting" and "Five on Brexit Island"), is that if you leave it lying around, your co-parent might take this as a passive-aggressive hint that Mother's Day is Not To Be Forgotten. In my case this effect was unintentional, but it could perhaps be strategically deployed in families where forgetfulness is rife?
Five Forget Mother's Day; conspicuously visible on a couch arm near you?
Five Forget Mother's Day
by Bruno Vincent
Published by Hachette New Zealand
ISBN: 9781786486868
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