In the Fifth at Malory Towers

In the Fifth at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton revolves around the lives of Darrell Rivers and her friends’ in the fifth form at boarding school. The focus of this book is the Christmas play the fifth formers are asked to stage.

After much debate on which play to select Darrell and her friends decide to stage Cinderella.

Darrell writes the script and the cast includes Mary Lou as Cinderella, Pat and Rita as the two ugly sisters, Louella as the fairy godmother, Mavis as the Prince and Alicia as the demon king.

Irene composes the music and Belinda designs the costumes and the set.

There is conflict during rehearsals because of the clashing personalities of the cast and Alicia leaves but joins again later. While the rehearsals are in progress someone starts sending malicious anonymous letters to Moira who is the head girl of the fifth form and also in charge of the singing to disrupt the staging of the play. This book also focuses on Darrell’s younger sister Felicity who joined Malory Towers in the previous term.

Reviewed by Hannah George