For a book I've read many times before that was first published in 1943, 'The Magic Faraway Tree' took me down something of a rabbit hole this time out. I could have sworn that I had a paperback edition but, if indeed I do, I can't find it and it isn't on my old inventory from when I emigrated to the States. So I'm reading it from a 2002 omnibus, 'The Faraway Tree Collection', which collates all three novels into one hardback edition. And, right there on the contents page, it states that "The Magic Faraway Tree has been slightly abridged."

So I naturally wondered why and the obvious reason was censorship. I was well aware that many of the Enid Blyton books had been "updated" over the years and I wondered if that was the case this time. However, I know that much of that was to update character names, like Dick and Fanny, who became Rick and Frannie in current editions, and to remove behaviour not deemed to be suitable, like the brawl with the goblins in 'The Enchanted Wood' or the corporal punishment of Dame Slap in 'The Folk of the Faraway Tree', that character becoming Dame Snap and she scolds her charges now rather than slaps them. However, those characters remain Dick and Fanny here and the Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe is downright vicious, whipping the children! Censorship is not obvious.

So I looked it up and found that there was an update done to 'The Magic Faraway Tree' in 1960 but I'm unable to track down what that actually changed. However, comparing my copy with an online PDF of a 1961 copy, I found that what Dean cut for this edition wasn't anything deemed unsuitable but simply the last few chapters for reasons of space. After all, Dean only had two 'Wishing Chair' books to include in that collection but three 'Magic Faraway Tree' volumes, which was presumably too much. This volume is over five hundred pages already, even with those chapters cut. Anyway, this became a review of two separate editions that, together, comprise the original novel.

What's immediately obvious is how simple and happy everything is, as if Blyton was not just willing but eager to escape the reality of the time. 'The Magic Faraway Tree' was published in 1943, so the United Kingdom had been at war with Nazi Germany for four years and, as you might imagine, the country was suffering. London was largely destroyed by Nazi bombs, children had been evacuated to safer parts of the country and rationing was in full effect. None of that is obvious here, as these kids have completely different priorities. It's like the war didn't even exist.

Most obviously, Cousin Dick is coming to stay. His mum is ill and can't look after him for a while, so she sends a letter to his Aunt Polly to let her know he's heading her way. There's no concern about this family being able to cope with him, financially or otherwise, just as Jo, Bessie and Fanny have no concern about their aunt's health, just "what fun!" at Dick coming to stay. Of course, that kicks into a quick recap as they look forward to taking him to the Enchanted Wood and showing him the Magic Faraway Tree and introducing him to all their strange friends. Imagine the adventures!

Well, we don't have to because we promptly leap into that, because Dick shows up as early as page two and they're in the wood before we can blink. We learn that the Owl who brought messages in 'The Enchanted Wood' now has a place in the Faraway Tree but otherwise Dick suffers all the same indignities the others did on their first time up, almost like a rite of passage. He's soaked when he looks into the Angry Pixie's window and he's soaked again by Dame Washalot's water and he finds a strange adventure in the Land of Topsy-Turvy.

This is a place where everything's upside down: the people, the horses, even the trees. It's all due to a curse, apparently, one that extends to Jo when a policeman finds them and asks why they're the wrong way up. He complains and the policeman turns him upside down. There's a philosophical message here about differences and assumed normality not unlike to Ray Bradbury's classic short story 'The Pedestrian', but this is Enid Blyton so we don't go there. Where we go is Jo stuck upside down even after they get back to the tree, so he has to stay with Moon-Face for a night instead of going home with the others. Conveniently, the Land of Spells will be there tomorrow.

I don't think I ever saw Blyton as a writer of quality literature even when I was devouring her work as a young child. She wrote mysteries and adventures that were mysterious and thrilling and she threw all sorts of characters into all sorts of trouble and that was fine by me. Reading now, I see a whole slew of technical  problems with her writing, which is almost as episodic as L. Frank Baum's and even more reliant on plot conveniences. Sometimes Blyton writes herself into situations that make absolutely no sense and she probably realised it at the time but ignored it and continued on regardless.

For instance, after they visit the Land of Spells and a nice witch cures Jo for a piece of gold Moon-Face is happy to supply, the Saucepan Man buys a spell to make things big. Then he trips over and spills it all over himself and Jo, Silky and Moon-Face. Now they're too big to get through the hole and after they buy another spell to make themselves small again, they dive down only to find the land has either moved on already or they chose the wrong hole. Now they're stuck with a strange character called Mr. Change-About whose demeanour changes with the drop of the hat and they are forced to escape by using broomstick ointment on a table, so it can fly them home.

So far so good, you think. This is what we expect from an Enid Blyton novel, right? Well, they land at the cottage right in front of their mum, who is rightly astonished that her kids just flew home on an upside-down table but then just goes about her day. She doesn't even ask them a question. They've just blatantly ignored the laws of physics but that isn't worthy of note? Then again, she's perfectly fine when Saucepan and Moon-Face have to come to stay for a few days because they've got into trouble and fear what their neighbours will do to them. Let me remind that Moon-Face is blessed with a sphere for a head, as we see in copious illustrations, while Saucepan literally wears pans all over his body. Would your mum just nod her head when they come to stay with your kids?

Another flaw is that all the themes repeat from book to book. In 'The Enchanted Wood', the kids go on a whole slew of adventures, almost none of which are at all enjoyable, so the novelty starts to fade and they hesitate before going on any more. It can't be that much fun being stuck upside down for a day or be grown to such large size that you can't get home. However, after they cease adventuring, the lands suddenly turn fun and whimsical and everybody has a great time. So after the Land of Topsy-Turvy and the Land of Dreams cause them no end of problems, they're able to visit the Land of Goodies and the Land of Do-As-You-Please.

Of course, there are still adventures. Saucepan goes to get supplies from the Land of Goodies and fails to notice that it's actually the Land of Toys, so he gets arrested for stealing something that he thought was free and locked up in a toy fort. It's down to Jo and Dick to get him out again with the benefit of cunning disguises. And Dick, being the new kid, is the one with character flaws that get them all into trouble. He's greedy and naughty and occasionally clumsy too, but his heart is in the right place and he endures a spanking from the Old Lady Who Lives in a Shoe to allow the rest of them to escape. And yes, Dick gets spanked. Suddenly I can see why Blyton has been updated so often.

Even with flaws, I just fell right back into childhood reading 'The Magic Faraway Tree'. Sure, Blyton wasn't the greatest writer in the world. Nobody who regularly churned out fifty books a year can honestly claim to be a great writer. However, she tapped into a world of imagination that simply resonated with kids back in the thirties and forties and still resonates today. What surprises me is that there are so many adult themes hiding behind that imagination that I wouldn't have noticed when I was eight.

Mr. Change-About clearly has an extreme case of bipolar disorder and it's a real challenge to live with a sufferer. There's irony in being saved by an upside down flying table when a chapter or two earlier Jo was seriously suffering from being stuck upside down. Dame Washalot helps out a great deal when the children's mother is sick, taking care of all the laundry she'd committed to doing for others; that community spirit is as close as Blyton gets to mentioning the war here. And there's a surreal shared dream to be endured in the Land of Dreams, while Silky goes for help.

There's also the old chestnut of getting what you want, which shows up in the parts excised from my collected edition. In the Land of Medicines, Dick impulsively takes three growing pills at once, against the instructions, and suddenly endures a growth spurt that makes him have to bend over so he doesn't break through the roof. Yes, double entendres are inevitable when you throw Dick into a fantasy novel. Fortunately, the pixies have an antidote but he swallows the whole box and suddenly Dick is so small that Bessie couldn't even see him. See what I mean?

What else is missing, should anyone only have the Dent collection, is an ending that's much more fleshed out, courtesy of the Land of Tempers. It isn't merely the Old Lady Who Lives in a Tree who tries to move into Moon-Face's house because Sir Stamp-a-lot tries it as well, with his cousin Lady Yell-Around moving into Silky's. They're both from the Land of Tempers and Moon-Face, Silky and Saucepan have all disappeared. You can imagine what that place is like, so it's not surprising that these two contrary cusses try to escape it. You can also imagine what the Land of Presents is like, I'm sure, and that's the happy land that wraps up the story in the full edition. Ending happily is a rule. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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