The Life and Loves of E. Nesbit

The Life and Loves of E. Nesbit PDF Author: Eleanor Fitzsimons
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 168335687X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 333

Get Book

Book Description
A Sunday Times Best Book of the Year: The “informative and entertaining” first major biography of the trailblazing, controversial children’s author (The Washington Post). Born in 1858, Edith Nesbit is today considered the first modern writer for children and the inventor of the children’s adventure story. In The Life and Loves of E. Nesbit, award-winning biographer Eleanor Fitzsimons uncovers the little-known details of her life, introducing readers to the Fabian Society cofounder and fabulous socialite who hosted legendary parties and had admirers by the dozen, including George Bernard Shaw. Through Nesbit’s letters and archival research, Fitzsimons reveals “E.” to have been a prolific lecturer and writer on socialism and shows how Nesbit incorporated these ideas into her writing, thereby influencing a generation of children—an aspect of her literary legacy never before examined. Fitzsimons’s riveting biography brings new light to the life and works of this remarkable writer and woman. “Meticulous and invaluable...exceptionally illuminating and detailed.” —The Wall Street Journal “Fitzsimons handily reassembles the hundreds of intricate, idiosyncratic parts of the miraculous E. Nesbit machine.” —The New York Times Book Review “I’ve always loved the work of E. Nesbit—The Railway Children and Five Children and It are my favorites—but I knew nothing about the extraordinary, surprising life of this great figure in children’s literature . . . so gripping that I read [it] in two days.” —Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times-bestsellingauthor of The Happiness Project “A charming, lively, and old-fashioned biography . . . highly readable.” —Publishers Weekly “A terrific book.” —Neil Gaiman

The Life and Loves of E. Nesbit

The Life and Loves of E. Nesbit PDF Author: Eleanor Fitzsimons
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 168335687X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 333

Get Book

Book Description
A Sunday Times Best Book of the Year: The “informative and entertaining” first major biography of the trailblazing, controversial children’s author (The Washington Post). Born in 1858, Edith Nesbit is today considered the first modern writer for children and the inventor of the children’s adventure story. In The Life and Loves of E. Nesbit, award-winning biographer Eleanor Fitzsimons uncovers the little-known details of her life, introducing readers to the Fabian Society cofounder and fabulous socialite who hosted legendary parties and had admirers by the dozen, including George Bernard Shaw. Through Nesbit’s letters and archival research, Fitzsimons reveals “E.” to have been a prolific lecturer and writer on socialism and shows how Nesbit incorporated these ideas into her writing, thereby influencing a generation of children—an aspect of her literary legacy never before examined. Fitzsimons’s riveting biography brings new light to the life and works of this remarkable writer and woman. “Meticulous and invaluable...exceptionally illuminating and detailed.” —The Wall Street Journal “Fitzsimons handily reassembles the hundreds of intricate, idiosyncratic parts of the miraculous E. Nesbit machine.” —The New York Times Book Review “I’ve always loved the work of E. Nesbit—The Railway Children and Five Children and It are my favorites—but I knew nothing about the extraordinary, surprising life of this great figure in children’s literature . . . so gripping that I read [it] in two days.” —Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times-bestsellingauthor of The Happiness Project “A charming, lively, and old-fashioned biography . . . highly readable.” —Publishers Weekly “A terrific book.” —Neil Gaiman

The Incomplete Amorist

The Incomplete Amorist PDF Author: Edith Nesbit
Publisher: IndyPublish.com
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Get Book

Book Description
CHAPTER I.The Inevitable"No. The chemises aren't cut out. I haven't had time. There are enough shirts to go on with, aren't there, Mrs. James?" said Betty."We can make do for this afternoon, Miss, but the men they're getting blowed out with shirts. It's the children's shifts as we can't make shift without much longer." Mrs. James, habitually doleful, punctuated her speech with sniffs."That's a joke, Mrs. James," said Betty. "How clever you are!""I try to be what's fitting," said Mrs. James, complacently."Talk of fitting," said Betty, "If you like I'll fit on that black bodice for you, Mrs. Symes. If the other ladies don't mind waiting for the reading a little bit.""I'd as lief talk as read, myself," said a red-faced sandy-haired woman "books ain't what they was in my young days.""If it's the same to you, Miss," said Mrs. Symes in a thick rich voice, "I'll not be tried on afore a room full. If we are poor we can all be clean's what I say, and I keeps my unders as I keeps my outside. But not before persons as has real imitation lace on their petticoat bodies. I see them when I was a-nursing her with her fourth. No, Miss, and thanking you kindly, but begging your pardon all the same.""Don't mention it," said Betty absently. "Oh, Mrs. Smith, you can't have lost your thimble already. Why what's that you've got in your mouth?""So it is!" Mrs. Smith's face beamed at the gratifying coincidence. "It always was my habit, from a child, to put things there for safety.""These cheap thimbles ain't fit to put in your mouth, no more than coppers," said Mrs. James, her mouth full of pins."Oh, nothing hurts you if you like it," said Betty recklessly. She had been reading the works of Mr. G. K. Chesterton.A shocked murmur arose."Oh, Miss, what about the publy kows?" said Mrs. Symes heavily. The others nodded acquiescence."Don't you think we might have a window open?" said Betty. The May sunshine beat on the schoolroom windows. The room, crowded with the stout members of the "Mother's Meeting and Mutual Clothing Club," was stuffy, unbearable.A murmur arose far more shocked than the first."I was just a-goin' to say why not close the door, that being what doors is made for, after all," said Mrs. Symes. "I feel a sort of draught a-creeping up my legs as it is."The door was shut."You can't be too careful," said the red-faced woman "we never know what a chill mayn't bring forth. My cousin's sister-in-law, she had twins, and her aunt come in and says she,

The House of Arden

The House of Arden PDF Author: E. Nesbit
Publisher: Standard Ebooks
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Get Book

Book Description
Edith Nesbit was a popular children’s author of the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras in Britain. Though she was writing more than a century ago, her books nevertheless remain popular and are generally still in print. The House of Arden was published in 1908. Like her other, perhaps better known tales, such as Five Children and It, the story takes quite ordinary children of the time and plunges them into fantastical adventures. In this book, two children, with the interesting Saxon names of Edred and Elfrida, aged 10 and 12 respectively, discover that due to the death of a distant relative, young Edred is now Lord of Arden. The estate consists of not much more than a little money, a crumbling castle, and an attached house. An old retainer tells them of a legend regarding the Lord of Arden and a buried treasure. Naturally they are eager to locate the treasure, which may help them restore the castle. They discover a way to summon up the mascot of the House, a white mole or “mouldiwarp,” who enables them to travel back through time in search of the treasure. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

The Children's Book

The Children's Book PDF Author: A. S. Byatt
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307373835
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 626

Get Book

Book Description
From the renowned author of Possession, The Children’s Book is the absorbing story of the close of what has been called the Edwardian summer: the deceptively languid, blissful period that ended with the cataclysmic destruction of World War I. In this compelling novel, A.S. Byatt summons up a whole era, revealing that beneath its golden surface lay tensions that would explode into war, revolution and unbelievable change — for the generation that came of age before 1914 and, most of all, for their children. The novel centres around Olive Wellwood, a fairy tale writer, and her circle, which includes the brilliant, erratic craftsman Benedict Fludd and his apprentice Phillip Warren, a runaway from the poverty of the Potteries; Prosper Cain, the soldier who directs what will become the Victoria and Albert Museum; Olive’s brother-in-law Basil Wellwood, an officer of the Bank of England; and many others from every layer of society. A.S. Byatt traces their lives in intimate detail and moves between generations, following the children who must choose whether to follow the roles expected of them or stand up to their parents’ “porcelain socialism.” Olive’s daughter Dorothy wishes to become a doctor, while her other daughter, Hedda, wants to fight for votes for women. Her son Tom, sent to an upper-class school, wants nothing more than to spend time in the woods, tracking birds and foxes. Her nephew Charles becomes embroiled with German-influenced revolutionaries. Their portraits connect the political issues at the heart of nascent feminism and socialism with grave personal dilemmas, interlacing until The Children’s Book becomes a perfect depiction of an entire world. Olive is a fairy tale writer in the era of Peter Pan and Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind In the Willows, not long after Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. At a time when children in England suffered deprivation by the millions, the concept of childhood was being refined and elaborated in ways that still influence us today. For each of her children, Olive writes a special, private book, bound in a different colour and placed on a shelf; when these same children are ferried off into the unremitting destruction of the Great War, the reader is left to wonder who the real children in this novel are. The Children’s Book is an astonishing novel. It is an historical feat that brings to life an era that helped shape our own as well as a gripping, personal novel about parents and children, life’s most painful struggles and its richest pleasures. No other writer could have imagined it or created it.

The Book of Beasts

The Book of Beasts PDF Author: E. Nesbit
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781981740215
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 36

Get Book

Book Description
The Book of Beasts is an exciting short story from The Book of Dragons by E. Nesbit that is revised and edited for The Gunston Trust for Nonviolence in Children's Literature. This delightful tale of a child-king who releases the Terrible Red Beasts from an ancient book he finds in the castle library. How will he ever capture this beast so that the kingdom can once again be happy and safe? Recommended for ages 7 - 12 years.

The Magic City (Illustrated)

The Magic City (Illustrated) PDF Author: Edith Nesbit
Publisher: e-artnow
ISBN: 8026872452
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 145

Get Book

Book Description
This carefully crafted ebook: "The Magic City (Illustrated)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. After Philip's older sister and sole family member Helen marries, he goes off to live with his new step sister Lucy. He has trouble adjusting at first, thrown into a world different from his previous life and abandoned by his sister while she is on her honeymoon. To entertain himself he builds a giant model city from things around the house: game pieces, books, blocks, bowls, etc. Then through some magic he finds himself inside the city, and it is alive with the people he has populated it with. Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) was the author of world famous books for children - the tales of fantastical adventures, journeys back in time and travel to magical worlds.

THE PHOENIX AND THE CARPET

THE PHOENIX AND THE CARPET PDF Author: E. NESBIT
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0359553443
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 179

Get Book

Book Description
The sequel to Five Children and It follows the wondrous adventures of Robert, Jane, Cyril, Anthea, and The Lamb as they discover a clever phoenix and a magic carpet. The children find an egg in the carpet, which hatches into a talking Phoenix. The Phoenix explains that the carpet is a magic one that will grant them three wishes a day. The children are on a fantastic ride with the hopelessly vain but good-hearted phoenix and his flying carpet. They travel to a French castle, to a tropical island, foil a burglar, arrange a marriage, change people's disposition, and have to figure out how to get 199 Persian cats, 398 muskrats, a cow, and a policeman out of their house. Their charming adventures not only entertain but teach them, and the reader, a few gentle lessons." The Phoenix and the Carpet"" is a wonderful book for the young and the young at heart. The adventures are continued and concluded in the third book of the trilogy, "The Story of the Amulet"

The Extraordinary Life of E Nesbit

The Extraordinary Life of E Nesbit PDF Author: Elisabeth Galvin
Publisher: Pen and Sword History
ISBN: 1526714795
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Get Book

Book Description
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.

The Wouldbegoods

The Wouldbegoods PDF Author: Edith Nesbit
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Get Book

Book Description
"The Wouldbegoods" by Edith Nesbit. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

The Story of the Amulet Illustrated

The Story of the Amulet Illustrated PDF Author: Edith Nesbit
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Get Book

Book Description
The Story of the Amulet is a novel for children, written in 1906 by English author Edith Nesbit.It is the final part of a trilogy of novels that also includes Five Children and It (1902) and The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904). In it the children re-encounter the Psammead-the "it" in Five Children and It. As it no longer grants wishes to the children, however, its capacity is mainly advisory in relation to the children's other discovery, the Amulet, thus following a formula successfully established in The Phoenix and the Carpet.