THE SECRET OF SPIGGY HOLES

Author: Enid Blyton Illustrator: E.H Davie Rating: 8/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, mystery, adventure Pages: 163 Published in:  1940 Main Characters: Mike, Peggy, Nora, Jack, Prince Paul

Synopsis: This story began with Mike, Peggy, Nora and their friend Jack as they headed off to their new holiday. They had all finished a long, tiring term at school and were ready to go to Spiggy Holes as a treat. The children soon found out from their parents that they were living in a small cottage by the sea with a lady named Miss Dimity. ‘Miss Dimity! She sounds sort of timid and mouse-like. I shall call her Dimmy.’ Peggy had exclaimed.          The children had all excitedly clambered out of their train, and waited for someone to take them to their cottage. The cottage was called Peep Hole, what a peculiar name! Soon, they had all sat in the horse carriage, along a high, winding cliff road, and the sea wind was blowing hard against their faces. After they had met Miss Dimity, a kind, old woman, they raced up the top of tower and examined their new bedrooms. They had 4 windows, with 4 different views. But, of course, the children wanted more excitement than this! They all decided to explore the little island and its beach. They went down the steep winding path to the beach and discovered many caves in the cliffs. A few people had already warned them of the danger of being trapped inside the caves by the tide after they went exploring them. Back at home, Dimmy (Miss Dimity) told them that the caves were called Spiggy Holes after a famous smuggler called Spiggy, who lived in the old house higher up the cliff a hundred and fifty years ago. He was said to use Peep-Hole as a spy place so he would know when his smuggling boats were coming in. While exploring, the children came across an old tower which was 3 times as big as the tower they were living in! Of course the children couldn’t resist exploring this old tower and Enid Blyton again gives us a good description of it. High walls surrounded it and as it had been empty for twenty years, the grounds were very overgrown. This was particularly true of the long dark drive, which winded its way to the front door under the tall, overhanging trees, but was completely overgrown by nettles and thistles. Unsurprisingly the children detoured through a side orchard, feasting on the fruit as they went and discovered a very solid and strong house built of white stone with an enormous tower on the side of the house nearest Peep-Hole and its smaller tower. After further investigation, the children began to think that the old house and the inhabitants were very strange. A man had told Dimmy that he was going to buy the old house, and that the children should stay away. The men who live there seemed to want to buy items from others, including George’s boat (George was a man who was friendly to the children) the children kept examining the strange behaviour of the people… and they had an alarming thought. Could they be smugglers, trying to keep up Spiggy’s work? Curious about what the strange, unfriendly people were up to, the children hid up a tree outside the Old House. Naturally Mr Diaz and Luiz (the men who were acting peculiar) come sauntering by and, eavesdropping, the children overheard talk of signalling to a boat from the tower—‘just like smugglers of old’, laughs Mr Diaz, ‘only our goods will not quite be the same.’ What were they talking about? The goods arrived late one night. The children had been taking turns to watch, and sure enough, there was a signal from the tower. The children rushed down to the shore in time to see a boat as it came in. They hid in a cave, and carefully as Mr Diaz and Luiz met the boat crew... and then the boat left, and the foreigners disappeared into a cave. Where did they go? After half an hour the children realised that the foreigners must have left by some other route, and they headed back to Peep-Hole, excited by the night's events, but puzzled by the strangers' disappearing act. An exploration of the caves followed the next day, and the children found a secret passage that led to the Old House! So that's where Mr Diaz and Luiz disappeared to, along with "the goods," whatever they were. Jack found a way that led into the Old House's scullery, and he ended up racing to the steps of the tower—only to find a locked door at the top. From behind the door came the sound of crying… Who was crying? What was being smuggled? What happens to Mike, Peggy, Nora and Jack as they study this mystery? Open this mysterious book to know the plot!

Why I like this book: This book is humorous and with many plots in it. As the story goes on, we are introduced to many new characters, and we also get to learn more about them. The book before this one was called ‘The secret island’ and we are only introduced to 4 of them, Mike, Peggy, Nora and Jack. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and you should read it if you like the sound of ‘The secret island’