The Secret Series (Enid Blyton) has one or two narrow escapes from being detained by them. The novel was originally written as a serial and, in 1938, published as a full-length novel. It was one of Enid Blyton's earliest adventure novels, preceding The Famous Five, The Five Find-Outers, The Adventure Series, The Secret Seven, and school books which would appear in following years. The children, reunited with their parents again (and Jack now adopted as part of the family), go on holiday at the rugged Cornish coast with a family friend, Miss Dimity ("Dimmy", who would appear in several further books in the series), and
Enid Blyton were soon joined by the children of neighbours, and a small school developed at the house. In 1920 Blyton relocated to Chessington, and began writing in her spare time. The following year she won the "Saturday Westminster Review" writing competition with her essay "On the Popular Fallacy that to the Pure All Things are Pure". Publications such as "The Londoner", "Home Weekly" and "The Bystander" began to show an interest in her short stories and poems. Blyton's first book, "Child Whispers", a 24-page collection of poems, was published in 1922. It was illustrated by a schoolfriend, Phyllis Chase, who collaborated