Jane Austen reminds me of Enid Blyton…

I never thought that Jane Austen would lead me to remember Enid Blyton and The famous five fondly.  But she has, and all because of Jilly Cooper.    

It all started last Saturday when I stood in a Sydney airport bookshop and remembered two things.  One, that a literary woman (I wish I could remember who!) recently had the guts to admit she read Jilly Cooper for fun, and two, that I’d never read Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen.  I wanted a page-turner for the plane, and I couldn’t quite bring myself to buy a Jilly Cooper, so I bought Northanger Abbey. 

Northanger Abbey’s heroine is Catherine Morland and *deep breath* she has just replaced Elizabeth Bennett as my favourite Jane Austen heroine!  You see, I like cleverness and wit, and Elizabeth has those qualities in spades.  But, Catherine is sweet, and naive, reads lots of novels and informs her new adventures with lessons from her latest read.

Catherine’s taste in novels has made her ”well read in the art of concealing treasure”, and when I read about her searching for false linings in drawers and seizing the hasps of locks with trembling hands I felt a real surge of affection for her.  I too get most of my advice on how to live my life from books (fiction), the odd movie… and some breakfast radio.  And Catherine has reminded me of the first time I used books to add adventure to my life. 

I was nine years old and my family had just moved to Marshlands (an area 15mins from Blenheim).  I was already a huge fan of Enid Blyton and well read in the art of finding adventure in new surroundings.  So, what better way to discover my new home than to turn it into an Enid Blyton mystery. 

After claiming what I hoped would be my bedroom, I explored the yard and eventually made my way through the four meter thick line of trees that grew down one side of the property and looked out over a huge paddock to a run-down looking house about 50mtrs away. 

I wished the famous five were there to help me, but decided that the next best thing would be to recruit my brother and sister aged six and four years old respectively. 

I’m ashamed to say that the first thing I did was to send my brother and sister on a mission to find evidence of the treasure maps that were sure to be hidden in a run-down house.  I watched them from the safety of my position behind the fence… because I was no fearless George. 

My brother and sister got right into the adventure of it all, ducking and diving their way from bush to bush, eventually entering the house and coming out about two minutes later. 

When I saw they hadn’t been accosted by pirates I felt relieved and then I ran across to join them.  And like Northanger Abbey’s Catherine my beating heart and flushed cheeks were disappointed.

Where Catherine found a chest full of boring old linen and receipts, I found a house full of boring old rubbish, and no sign of priates concealing smuggled goods from a group of potential famous five recruits.

Fortunately, I didn’t let this early disapointment dissuade me from informing future adventures with my latest read.  And luckily for my life, I eventually moved on from reading about the adventures of the famous five to… other stuff.