The life and loves of E. Nesbit : Victorian iconoclast, children's author, and creator of The railway children /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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 -bestselling author of The Happiness Project

"A charming, lively, and old-fashioned biography . . . highly readable." -- Publishers Weekly

"A terrific book." --Neil Gaiman

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Fitzsimons (Wilde's Women) offers a charming, lively, and old-fashioned biography of Victorian and Edwardian-era author Edith Nesbit (1858--1924). Endlessly short of money, Nesbit's output ran to poetry, essays, and adult novels and short fiction--but children's literature was where her genius lay, evinced most famously by the much-read novel The Railway Children. As Fitzsimons shows, Nesbit's life infused her work, and her life was dramatic and stylish. She cofounded the Fabians, an influential socialist group that included George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells, and cultivated an eccentric, signature personal style, wearing flowing, loose-fitting gowns with no corset, bangles up her arms, and an inevitable cigarette in a long holder, and living in a series of picturesque, if sometimes shabby, homes, one surrounded by a moat. Fitzsimons also conveys Nesbit's complicated domestic arrangements--her husband, Hubert Bland, was a serial philander and asked Nesbit to raise two of his children with another woman. Fitzsimons's book benefits from a wealth of sources, though some repetitions, such as the many references to Nesbit's long cigarette holder, might be trimmed. Overall, however, Fitzsimons delivers a sprightly and highly readable life of a writer who deserves even wider recognition. (Oct.)

Booklist Review

Best remembered today for such classic children's books as The Railway Children, The Story of the Amulet, and many more, Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) was also a well-regarded poet and an author of fiction for adults. Fitzsimmons has done prodigious research to bring her story to vibrant life. Indeed, it sometimes seems that she is offering a day-to-day account of Nesbit's life, with her work taking a back seat. Fortunately, the life is interesting enough to fill this large, minutely detailed, well-written biography. With her husband, Hubert Bland, Nesbit was a dedicated socialist and founding member of the Fabian Society, along with such luminaries as George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells. It appears that Nesbit was, for a time, in love with Shaw, who demurred. This infatuation, however, can't hold a candle to Bland's serial philandering. In one egregious example, he had an affair with one of Nesbit's friends, Alice Hoatson, who became pregnant, moved in with the Blands, and became the third member of a ménage à trois. Obviously, theirs was a bohemian existence, and Nesbit herself was a kind of beautiful, flamboyant Auntie Mame figure, though with an undercurrent of steel. As an author, she was one of a kind, and Fitzsimmons makes a compelling case for her stature as an important writer. This biography is long overdue.--Michael Cart Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

Fitzsimons (Wilde's Women: How Oscar Wilde Was Shaped by the Women He Knew, 2017) explores the controversial life and groundbreaking contributions of iconic Victorian children's author and social activist Edith Nesbit (1858-1924).Relying on letters, memoirs, poetry, stories, and archival materials, the author reveals familiar as well as unexpected details and anecdotes from Nesbit's tempestuous, bohemian life. She documents how Nesbit's father's death, her sister's illness, and subsequent family upheavals shaped her into an anxious child with a fertile imagination who began writing poetry at age 11. A life-changing marriage to ardent womanizer Hubert Bland when she was seven months pregnant forced Nesbit to "muster what resources, determination, and ingenuity she had to support her family" through her writing. Throughout their unorthodox marriage, Nesbit tolerated her husband's many flaws. Attractive and vivacious, Nesbit was "always surrounded by adoring young men" and had "intensely romantic friendships with several," including George Bernard Shaw. Delving into Nesbit's formative involvement in the Fabian Society and ardent campaigning to alleviate poverty, Fitzsimons suggests Nesbit's socialist views influenced her children's books. Favoring unconventional loose-fitting dresses and short hair, Nesbit's attitude toward women's rights and suffrage was surprisingly "hostile." Frequent quotes from Nesbit's children's books illustrate how she "populated her stories with people and events from her past," recasting herself and her siblings as the Bastable children in The Story of the Treasure Seekers. Fitzsimons ably demonstrates how Nesbit's singular ability to write from the perspective of a child, weaving magic and fantasy into everyday life in a colloquial style, became the prototype for modern children's fiction. She shines a welcome spotlight on a life "as extraordinary as anything found in the pages of her books."A fascinating, thoughtfully organized, thoroughly researched, often surprising biography of the enigmatic author of The Railway Children. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Eleanor Fitzsimons is a researcher, writer, and journalist specializing in historical and current feminist issues. Her work has been published in a range of newspapers and journals, including the Sunday Times and the Guardian . She is a regular radio and television contributor residing in Dublin, Ireland.