In 1924 Enid married Hugh Pollock, an editor at the publishing firm George Newnes, which had commissioned Enid to write a children’s book about London Zoo – The Zoo Book (1924). They lived in London before moving to Elfin Cottage in Beckenham in 1926. The following year, encouraged by Hugh, Enid bought her first typewriter and switched from writing her books longhand to typing them. This was a critical move in her evolution as a writer and businesswoman.
Enid Blyton’s first longer fiction book, The Enid Blyton Book of Bunnies, was published in 1925. The following year Enid began writing and editing a magazine, which went onto become the popular weekly magazine, Sunny Stories.
In 1929 Enid and Hugh moved to Buckinghamshire where their two daughters, Gillian and Imogen, were born in 1931 and 1935. In 1938, Enid moved the family to a house called Green Hedges in Beaconsfield. Enid continued writing during the war years and Hugh rejoined his old regiment in Surrey. They divorced in 1942, and in 1943 Enid married surgeon Kenneth Waters. In the 1950s, Kenneth and Enid bought Manor Farm in Dorset, which was to provide the inspiration for many of Blyton’s works.
Enid’s first full-length novel for children, The Secret Island, was published in 1938. Throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, she wrote prolifically, frequently having over 20 books per year published. This period saw the launch of most of her most well-known series including The Famous Five, The Secret Seven and Malory Towers.
Altogether, Enid Blyton wrote around 700 books and about 2,000 short stories as well as poems and countless magazine articles. In 1950 she set up her own limited company, Darrell Waters Ltd., to manage the fortune she was amassing. In addition to her writing, she invested a lot of energy and time in fundraising for charity. She encouraged thousands of her young fans to do the same, through special clubs she set up. They raised huge amounts in support of the PDSA pet charity and several charities devoted to helping children with disabilities.