Photograph of Edith Nesbit

Edith Nesbit

(1858—1924)

United Kingdom

Biography

Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a precursor to the modern Labour Party.

Among Nesbit's best-known books are The Story of the Treasure Seekers and The Wouldbegoods, which both recount stories about the Bastables, a middle class family that has fallen on relatively hard times. Her children's writing also included numerous plays and collections of verse.

She created an innovative body of work that combined realistic, contemporary children in real-world settings with magical objects and adventures and sometimes travel to fantastic worlds. In doing so, she was a direct or indirect influence on many subsequent writers, including P. L. Travers (author of Mary Poppins), Edward Eager, Diana Wynne Jones and J. K. Rowling. C. S. Lewis wrote of her influence on his Narnia series and mentions the Bastable children in The Magician's Nephew.

(source: Wikipedia)

ePub Books Available by Edith Nesbit

6 Titles Online

Five Children and It Book Cover Image

Five Children and It [en] (1902)Available with Illustrations!Film!

To Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane, and their baby brother, the house in the country promises a summer of freedom and play. But when they accidently uncover an accident Psammead--or Sand-fairy--who has the power to make wishes come true, they find themselves having the holiday of a lifetime,...

Genres: Fantasy, Young Readers

The Phoenix and the Carpet Book Cover Image

The Phoenix and the Carpet [en] (1904)Film!

The four children acquired the magic carpet when they found a special fire egg -- it hatched in their nursery fireplace. The phoenix came from the egg, and when he saw their mother's new Persian rug, he showed them that it was a magical thing -- a flying carpet that would take them any time...

Genres: Fantasy, Young Readers

The Railway Children Book Cover Image

The Railway Children [en] (1906)Film!

Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis were very happy living in a comfortable house surrounded by a cook and servants and two loving parents, until one evening when there was a knock at the door and their father was mysteriously taken away by two men. Suddenly alone, their mother moves the family to a...

Genres: Action/Adventure, Young Readers

The Story of the Amulet Book Cover Image

The Story of the Amulet [en] (1905)Film!

THERE were once four children who had the good fortune to find in the sandpit a strange creature. Its eyes were on long horns like snail's eyes, and it could move them in and out like telescopes. It had ears like a bat's ears, and its tubby body was shaped like a spider's and covered with...

Genres: Fantasy, Young Readers

The Story of the Treasure Seekers Book Cover Image

The Story of the Treasure Seekers [en] (1899)Film!

"This is the story of the different ways we looked for treasure, and I think when you have read it you will see that we were not lazy about the looking." This novel, the first in what is often called "the Bastable Saga" begins the story of these six children -- Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice,...

Genre: Young Readers

The Wouldbegoods Book Cover Image

The Wouldbegoods [en] (1899)

After being sent to the country "to learn to be good", the Bastable children and their two friends form the Society of the Wouldbegoods, but continue to become involved in adventures.

Genre: Young Readers