poliphilo: (bah)
poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2016-01-03 09:55 am
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The House Of Arden: E Nesbit

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.
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[identity profile] huskyteer.livejournal.com 2016-01-03 11:23 am (UTC)(link)
Ooh, I've not read this one; it can't have been among the blue cloth bound hardbacks belonging to one of my parents.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2016-01-03 12:31 pm (UTC)(link)
It's a good'un. I've got a big fat Nesbit anthology on my Kindle.

[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2016-01-03 03:22 pm (UTC)(link)
(Here from the friends FL)

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

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2016-01-03 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, it does. And aren't they good!

[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2016-01-03 05:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Definitely. I can't see Edred and Elfrida any other way.

[identity profile] steepholm.livejournal.com 2016-01-03 11:35 am (UTC)(link)
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...

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2016-01-03 12:35 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
ext_550458: (TARDIS)

[identity profile] strange-complex.livejournal.com 2016-01-03 12:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Sounds great! I need to read more time-travel books, I think.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2016-01-03 01:32 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
ext_550458: (Sebastian boozes)

[identity profile] strange-complex.livejournal.com 2016-01-03 01:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh dear!

[identity profile] shewhomust.livejournal.com 2016-01-03 02:31 pm (UTC)(link)
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...

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2016-01-03 03:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, they sort of intersect, don't they! I'm into Harding now. It's wonderful.
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