ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WRITERS TO HAVE EVER LIVED
The Story of the Treasure Seekers is the first book in the Bastable trilogy, which continues with The Wouldbegoods and New Treasure Seekers.
‘I love E. Nesbit’ NEIL GAIMAN
‘My all-time favourite classic children’s author’ JACQUELINE WILSON
‘She speaks to the reader, and it’s almost as though you can hear her voice’ QUENTIN BLAKE
When their widowed father’s business fails, the Bastable children decide to restore the family fortunes themselves. No longer able to afford school, the children have all the time in the world to devise ingenious money-making schemes: from digging for treasure in their Lewisham garden to becoming highwaymen on Blackheath Common. All too often their efforts lead to trouble rather than treasure, until one adventure finally pays off . . .
Published with illustrations by Gordon Browne, newly scanned from the original edition.
A collection that will be coveted by children and adults alike, this list is the best in children’s literature, curated by Virago. These are timeless tales with beautiful covers, that will be treasured and shared across the generations. Some titles you will already know; some will be new to you, but there are stories for everyone to love, whatever your age. Our list includes Nina Bawden (Carrie’s War, The Peppermint Pig), Rumer Godden (The Dark Horse, An Episode of Sparrows), Joan Aiken (The Serial Garden, The Gift Giving), E. Nesbit (The Psammead Trilogy, The Bastable Trilogy, The Railway Children), L. M. Montgomery (The Anne of Green Gables series) and Susan Coolidge (The What Katy Did Trilogy). Discover Virago Children’s Classics.
The Story of the Treasure Seekers is the first book in the Bastable trilogy, which continues with The Wouldbegoods and New Treasure Seekers.
‘I love E. Nesbit’ NEIL GAIMAN
‘My all-time favourite classic children’s author’ JACQUELINE WILSON
‘She speaks to the reader, and it’s almost as though you can hear her voice’ QUENTIN BLAKE
When their widowed father’s business fails, the Bastable children decide to restore the family fortunes themselves. No longer able to afford school, the children have all the time in the world to devise ingenious money-making schemes: from digging for treasure in their Lewisham garden to becoming highwaymen on Blackheath Common. All too often their efforts lead to trouble rather than treasure, until one adventure finally pays off . . .
Published with illustrations by Gordon Browne, newly scanned from the original edition.
A collection that will be coveted by children and adults alike, this list is the best in children’s literature, curated by Virago. These are timeless tales with beautiful covers, that will be treasured and shared across the generations. Some titles you will already know; some will be new to you, but there are stories for everyone to love, whatever your age. Our list includes Nina Bawden (Carrie’s War, The Peppermint Pig), Rumer Godden (The Dark Horse, An Episode of Sparrows), Joan Aiken (The Serial Garden, The Gift Giving), E. Nesbit (The Psammead Trilogy, The Bastable Trilogy, The Railway Children), L. M. Montgomery (The Anne of Green Gables series) and Susan Coolidge (The What Katy Did Trilogy). Discover Virago Children’s Classics.
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Reviews
An excellent book which gives a playful sense of what it was like to be a child in the 1890s. I was interested by the similarities and differences between being a child then and being a child now
She's the children's writer with whom I most identify. The Story of the Treasure Seekers was a breakthrough children's book. Oswald is such a very real narrator, at a time when most people were writing morality plays for children
I love E. Nesbit
I loved the direct first-person narrative in the clear, forthright tones of Oswald Bastable
If Britain is to children's fantasy as Brazil is to football, then Edith Nesbit is our Pele-endlessly surprising and inventive. But she is more than that. There were fantasy writers before Edith Nesbit but she is the one that brought the magical and the mundane together in a moment of nuclear fusion. She opened the door in the magic wardrobe, pointed the way to platform nine and three quarters. She even had a hand in building the Tardis. And these are among her minor achievements. She is also simply the funniest writer we have ever had, while being the one who could most easily and sweetly break your heart with a phrase. Just try saying 'Daddy oh my Daddy' without catching your breath. She made the magic worlds feel as near as the Lewisham Road and she bathed the Lewisham Road in magic
