The House Of Arden: E Nesbit

[poliphilo]

Time travel into the English past, a brother and sister who fight just like real kids do, an endearing bad-tempered magical creature- the Mouldiwarp- who speaks in a broad Sussex accent, a witch who is sorely misunderstood but beneficent, a narrative that jogs along from adventure to adventure in a manner that strongly suggests Nesbit is making it up as she goes along...

It has a sequel- Harding's Luck- and that's what I'm going to read next.

Comments

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I've not read this one; it can't have been among the blue cloth bound hardbacks belonging to one of my parents.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's a good'un. I've got a big fat Nesbit anthology on my Kindle.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

(Here from the friends FL)

A question, if I may- does the Kindle keep the illustrations?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does. And aren't they good!

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Definitely. I can't see Edred and Elfrida any other way.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I like the way it starts with the children reading a copy of The Story of the Amulet and wishing things like that could happen to them...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's as if Nesbit is tipping us the wink. I like the way she keeps breaking into the narrative to address the reader in a chatty way.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Sounds great! I need to read more time-travel books, I think.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Nesbit was a friend of H.G. Wells- the original time travel man. Relations became a little strained when Wells
attempted to elope with Nesbit's daughter.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Oh dear!

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

These two were pretty much my favourite Nesbits; as a child I particularly loved the way neither book was exactly a sequel to the other, but they told their two stories in parallel. A pair of the Edward Eager books do the same thing...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, they sort of intersect, don't they! I'm into Harding now. It's wonderful.