Five Have a Wonderful Time - Enid Blyton

Published as an audiobook by Hodder Children's Books/Hachette Children's Books, 2013.
Narrated by Jan Francis.
Book 11 in the 'Famous Five' series. Preceded by 'Five on a Hike Together.' Followed by 'Five Go Down to the Sea.'
First published 1952.

On occasion, Elise and I have noted that a particular Famous Five story might take a while to get on to the mystery itself. Five Go Adventuring Again is the first one to spring to mind in this way. However, Five Have a Wonderful Time takes this idea to the next level! Although the five are camping, and encounter some suspicious 'Fair Folk' whom they wish to befriend, the actual mystery or adventure element doesn't really kick in until literally over half the book has passed. At that point, the Five, along with returning character Jo from Five Fall Into Adventure, finally notice something suspicious in the ruins of a nearby castle - a face at a window! - and set out to find out how the face is there and whose face it is.

Of course, with over half of a book already gone, and the book itself relatively short, there isn't time for a lot of twists and turns in the plot, so readers who have paid attention will already know who the face belongs to and the implications of the face being there.

The biggest twist in Five Have a Wonderful Time, then, isn't the plot of the mystery itself, but the fact that - once Jo has arrived on the scene - she becomes the actual most important character in the book, rather than any of our five regulars. Jo begins by solving the difficulties between the Five and the Fair Folk, then manages to be the only one of the children to avoid being captured, and must figure out how to set the others free. 

Honestly, without Jo, the plot of this book wouldn't have gotten anywhere!

So, well done Enid Blyton for letting Jo have centre stage, for letting a side character return in such a triumphant way, and for subverting the expectations that the Five must always quickly get into trouble for a book to be interesting.

This was a good one.

Completed with Elise, 30 May 2026.

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