Several of her books have been made into films. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, her best known including The Railway Children and The Story of the Treasure Seekers. Born in London, she became active in politics, and in 1884 helped to found the Fabian Society. They find plenty of adventure, but will they find the treasure before Edred’s birthday?Įdith Nesbit (1858-1924) was an English author and poet whose children’s works were published under the name E. Two impoverished children, Edred and Elfrida Arden, inherit the.

Together, brother and sister visit some of the most thrilling periods of history and test their wits against real witches, highwaymen, and renegades. The House of Arden is a novel for children, written in 1908 by English author Edith Nesbit. With no time to lose, Edred and Elfrida secure the help of a magical talking creature, the temperamental Mouldiwarp, who leads them on a treasure hunt through the ages. Just before his tenth birthday, Edred inherits the title of Lord Arden he also learns that the missing fortune will be his if-and only if-he can find it before the turns ten. 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.Synopsis: The famous Arden family treasure has been missing for generations, and the last members of the Arden line, Edred, Elfrida, and their Aunt Edith, have nothing to their names but the crumbling castle they live in. Naturally they are eager to locate the treasure, which may help them restore the castle. An old retainer tells them of a legend regarding the Lord of Arden and a buried treasure. The estate consists of not much more than a little money, a crumbling castle, and an attached house. 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. 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. The House of Arden was published in 1908. Though she was writing more than a century ago, her books nevertheless remain popular and are generally still in print. Edith Nesbit was a popular children’s author of the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras in Britain.

The House of Arden by E. Nesbit