Untitled Books

In expunging dated words, you strip out a book's personality – although perhaps some of the characters' names could go

Enid Blyton was literary contraband when I was growing up, banned from the household on feminist grounds. All the girls are really wet; the ones who aren't are either aberrations (George) or swiftly punished, female initiative being automatic cause for sharp comeuppance. It would have taken a lot more than a word like "golly" to put us off all that intoxicating forbidden patriarchy.