My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read Five Run Away Together in when I was 11, I think. This is the only book, till date, that I must have read at least a dozen times. More than a decade later, I would still go back to it with the same zest. The third book in the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton has a strange pull. It is the story of the Famous Five - Julian, Dick, George (Georgina), Ann and Timothy, the dog - where they are compelled by circumstances to abandon their home and seek refuge on an island while an obnoxious family of three live in their house under the pretext of being caretakers. The preparation for running away, gathering stock of all items necessary for survival in uncivilised surroundings a la Robinson Crusoe, if only he were forewarned, and finally the escape are described with natural flair which was Blyton's forte. What begins as an innocent escape from frustrating household staff unfolds into a thrilling adventure of a rather dangerous nature. Classified as a children's book, an adult would find himself equally engrossed in the book. One of the best out of the 21 in the series.
