Enid Blyton for Grown-Ups coming this Christmas

Quercus is bringing out a new series, Enid Blyton for Grown-Ups, in time for Christmas.

The series, written by Bruno Vincent, builds on a generation's experience reading Blyton as children and brings The Famous Five characters - who are "posher than us and holidayed more than us" - into our "baffling adult world".

Julian, George, Dick, Anne and Timmy will be reimagined grown-ups in four new stories in which they confront challenges of living without booze for a month, finding themselves on a puzzling "strategy away day", attempt to find a good gluten-free cream tea, and, "most perilous of all", prepare for parenthood.

Four titles - Five Give Up the Booze; Five Go Gluten Free; Five Go On A Strategy Away Day; and Five Go Parenting - will be released in hardback on 3rd November, priced £6.99 each.

A spokesperson for Quercus said: "Quercus is really excited to be catching up with Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five as adults: their grown-up adventures will both remind older readers of the unbreakable bond between Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy, and introduce newer readers to the spiffing time you can have with a few friends and a dog."

Anne McNeil of Enid Blyton Entertainment, added: "We are thrilled that Enid Blyton’s iconic five are being reimagined for grown-ups. We are certain Enid Blyton would have delighted in the gentle parody of her characters - characters which have helped to create a multi-million-selling global brand." 

The Bookseller reported last month Hachette Children’s Group was launching a major revamp and expansion of the Enid Blyton estate to “enhance and go beyond the literary legacy”. HCG acquired worldwide rights to the Enid Blyton estate (excluding Noddy) from Chorion in 2012. 

The annoucement follows Michael Joseph's Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups series, which became stocking-filler Christmas hits last year. Titles in the range by Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris, including The Ladybird Book of the Mid-Life Crisis and The Ladybird Book of The Hipster, left booksellers scrabbling for stock in the run-up to the festive period while PRH UK reprinted. The series has sold 1.74m copies for £10m to date. 

Vivian Archer at Newham Books commented at the time: "They’re ideal secret santa presents. There’s a nostalgia; they’re silly, really; and the price is key. Also, they're unusual."