A fantasy novel telling the tale of a magical caravan has been discovered in an archive of Enid Blyton’s work.
Mr Tumpy’s Caravan has never been published and fans of the late children’s author never knew it existed.
The 180-page manuscript was included in a collection of Blyton’s fables that was sold to Seven Stories Children’s book centre in Newcastle for £40,000.
It was not recognised as a new work at first, as its name is similar to another book published by the writer in 1949 called Tumpy and His Caravan.
However, the newly discovered story seems to be quite different from the published version and focuses on a totally different type of caravan.
Hannah Green, archivist at Seven Stories, told the BBC that this novel tells the story of a caravan on legs that takes its occupants off on exciting trips.
The main characters in the book are Mr Tumpy and his friends Muffin and Puffin.
“They live in this caravan and go off on adventures,” Ms Green explained.
“They don’t really control it – it decides where it’s going to go and when it’s going to stay somewhere.”
Enid Blyton is most commonly known for her Noddy books, as well as the Famous Five and Secret Seven series of novels.
