The Extraordinary Life of E Nesbit: Author of Five Children and It and The Railway Children
Imagine being one of the most well-loved children's authors of all time, yet your readers don't know if you're a man or a woman. Or even your real name. E. Nesbit is really Edith Nesbit, who wrote an extraordinary 98 novels, plays and poetry collections for children and adults between 1885 and 1923. She is credited as the first modern writer for children whose work has influenced authors from Oscar Wilde to C.S. Lewis, Noël Coward to J.K. Rowling. Even though it was published more than 100 years ago, The Railway Children remains one of the most popular children's books ever written and it has never been out of print. But for Edith, the truth of her life is stranger than her fiction – and it's a truth she was keen to hide from the public. Edith's father died when she was four, resulting in a peripatetic childhood across Europe. At 21 years old she was seven months' pregnant when she married a penniless libertine who became a famous journalist, Hubert Bland. Together as early socialists they were founding members of the Fabian Society, from which the Labour Party has its foundations. A Bohemian and an eccentric, Edith became a mother of five children – two of whom she adopted in secret after her husband had an affair with a close friend (who subsequently lived with them as their housekeeper). It was shortly after the sudden death of her beloved son that Edith wrote her first bestseller in 1899, a groundbreaker that dramatically changed the course of children's literature. On the eve of World War I, Edith's husband died and she married a captain of the Woolwich Ferry. A cheerful cockney sparrow, Tommy Tucker proved to be Edith's unwitting romantic hero who loved and cherished her until she died in near-poverty on the Romney Marshes of Kent.
1127961785
The Extraordinary Life of E Nesbit: Author of Five Children and It and The Railway Children
Imagine being one of the most well-loved children's authors of all time, yet your readers don't know if you're a man or a woman. Or even your real name. E. Nesbit is really Edith Nesbit, who wrote an extraordinary 98 novels, plays and poetry collections for children and adults between 1885 and 1923. She is credited as the first modern writer for children whose work has influenced authors from Oscar Wilde to C.S. Lewis, Noël Coward to J.K. Rowling. Even though it was published more than 100 years ago, The Railway Children remains one of the most popular children's books ever written and it has never been out of print. But for Edith, the truth of her life is stranger than her fiction – and it's a truth she was keen to hide from the public. Edith's father died when she was four, resulting in a peripatetic childhood across Europe. At 21 years old she was seven months' pregnant when she married a penniless libertine who became a famous journalist, Hubert Bland. Together as early socialists they were founding members of the Fabian Society, from which the Labour Party has its foundations. A Bohemian and an eccentric, Edith became a mother of five children – two of whom she adopted in secret after her husband had an affair with a close friend (who subsequently lived with them as their housekeeper). It was shortly after the sudden death of her beloved son that Edith wrote her first bestseller in 1899, a groundbreaker that dramatically changed the course of children's literature. On the eve of World War I, Edith's husband died and she married a captain of the Woolwich Ferry. A cheerful cockney sparrow, Tommy Tucker proved to be Edith's unwitting romantic hero who loved and cherished her until she died in near-poverty on the Romney Marshes of Kent.
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The Extraordinary Life of E Nesbit: Author of Five Children and It and The Railway Children

The Extraordinary Life of E Nesbit: Author of Five Children and It and The Railway Children

The Extraordinary Life of E Nesbit: Author of Five Children and It and The Railway Children

The Extraordinary Life of E Nesbit: Author of Five Children and It and The Railway Children

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Overview

Imagine being one of the most well-loved children's authors of all time, yet your readers don't know if you're a man or a woman. Or even your real name. E. Nesbit is really Edith Nesbit, who wrote an extraordinary 98 novels, plays and poetry collections for children and adults between 1885 and 1923. She is credited as the first modern writer for children whose work has influenced authors from Oscar Wilde to C.S. Lewis, Noël Coward to J.K. Rowling. Even though it was published more than 100 years ago, The Railway Children remains one of the most popular children's books ever written and it has never been out of print. But for Edith, the truth of her life is stranger than her fiction – and it's a truth she was keen to hide from the public. Edith's father died when she was four, resulting in a peripatetic childhood across Europe. At 21 years old she was seven months' pregnant when she married a penniless libertine who became a famous journalist, Hubert Bland. Together as early socialists they were founding members of the Fabian Society, from which the Labour Party has its foundations. A Bohemian and an eccentric, Edith became a mother of five children – two of whom she adopted in secret after her husband had an affair with a close friend (who subsequently lived with them as their housekeeper). It was shortly after the sudden death of her beloved son that Edith wrote her first bestseller in 1899, a groundbreaker that dramatically changed the course of children's literature. On the eve of World War I, Edith's husband died and she married a captain of the Woolwich Ferry. A cheerful cockney sparrow, Tommy Tucker proved to be Edith's unwitting romantic hero who loved and cherished her until she died in near-poverty on the Romney Marshes of Kent.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781526714794
Publisher: Pen & Sword History
Publication date: 05/20/2022
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 208
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

At every opportunity when she was a child, ELISABETH GALVIN would jump on her mother's lap to ask for a story. One of these books was The Railway Children, which began her lifelong love of literature. After studying English and Classics at Durham University, she became a magazine journalist in London, Australia and Hong Kong. A keen open-water swimmer, Elisabeth recited passages by Jane Austen and the Brontës to herself as she swam across the English Channel to France in 2002 (it took her 10 hours 51 minutes so that's quite a lot of romantic literature).

Table of Contents

Family Tree vii

Acknowledgements viii

Foreword Dame Jacqueline Wilson x

Chapter 1 Once Upon a Time 1

Chapter 2 Of Brighton and Bordeaux 7

Chapter 3 Falling in Love 19

Chapter 4 A Victorian Working Mother 25

Chapter 5 Edith's Transformation 31

Chapter 6 A Famous Liaison 41

Chapter 7 Bohemia 50

Chapter 8 The Libertines 56

Chapter 9 Finding Treasure 64

Chapter 10 Living Well 71

Chapter 11 Death of a Son 82

Chapter 12 It 88

Chapter 13 The Railway Children 95

Chapter 14 Five Children and E. Nesbit 100

Chapter 15 Edith and H.G. Wells 110

Chapter 16 Utopia 115

Chapter 17 A Tragic Farewell 123

Chapter 18 The War 128

Chapter 19 Her Final Romantic Hero 135

Chapter 20 The End 146

Postscript 154

Chapter 21 The Afterlife: Re-Telling E. Nesbit's Stories 156

Chapter 22 Harry Potter 162

Chapter 23 An E. Nesbit for the Twenty-First Century 166

Edith's Guide to Life 171

50 of the Best Works E. Nesbit 173

Sources 175

Notes 178

Index 180

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