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The Wonderful Garden
Reproduction of the original: The Wonderful Garden by E. Nesbit
238 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1911
9 people are currently reading
267 people want to read
About the author
E. Nesbit
1,037 books999 followers
Edith Nesbit
(married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet; she published her books for children 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 socialist organisation later connected to the Labour Party.
Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of agricultural chemist and schoolmaster John Collis Nesbit. The death of her father when she was four and the continuing ill health of her sister meant that Nesbit had a transitory childhood, her family moving across Europe in search of healthy climates only to return to England for financial reasons. Nesbit therefore spent her childhood attaining an education from whatever sources were available—local grammars, the occasional boarding school but mainly through reading.
At 17 her family finally settled in London and aged 19, Nesbit met Hubert Bland, a political activist and writer. They became lovers and when Nesbit found she was pregnant they became engaged, marrying in April 1880. After this scandalous (for Victorian society) beginning, the marriage would be an unconventional one. Initially, the couple lived separately—Nesbit with her family and Bland with his mother and her live-in companion Maggie Doran.
Initially, Edith Nesbit books were novels meant for adults, including The Prophet's Mantle (1885) and The Marden Mystery (1896) about the early days of the socialist movement. Written under the pen name of her third child 'Fabian Bland', these books were not successful. Nesbit generated an income for the family by lecturing around the country on socialism and through her journalism (she was editor of the Fabian Society's journal, Today).
In 1899 she had published The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers to great acclaim.
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 socialist organisation later connected to the Labour Party.
Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of agricultural chemist and schoolmaster John Collis Nesbit. The death of her father when she was four and the continuing ill health of her sister meant that Nesbit had a transitory childhood, her family moving across Europe in search of healthy climates only to return to England for financial reasons. Nesbit therefore spent her childhood attaining an education from whatever sources were available—local grammars, the occasional boarding school but mainly through reading.
At 17 her family finally settled in London and aged 19, Nesbit met Hubert Bland, a political activist and writer. They became lovers and when Nesbit found she was pregnant they became engaged, marrying in April 1880. After this scandalous (for Victorian society) beginning, the marriage would be an unconventional one. Initially, the couple lived separately—Nesbit with her family and Bland with his mother and her live-in companion Maggie Doran.
Initially, Edith Nesbit books were novels meant for adults, including The Prophet's Mantle (1885) and The Marden Mystery (1896) about the early days of the socialist movement. Written under the pen name of her third child 'Fabian Bland', these books were not successful. Nesbit generated an income for the family by lecturing around the country on socialism and through her journalism (she was editor of the Fabian Society's journal, Today).
In 1899 she had published The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers to great acclaim.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
July 22, 2017
english title: The wonderful garden
i just searched to book on amazon + google and didnt find a summary *shocking* it is such a wonderful book first published in 1911. it is about caroline, charlotte and their brother charles. they do on vacations, visiting her uncle who tells them about lost magic books and other things. the kids go searching for the books and have success. they try some of the magic things (most of them have to do with flowers. while reading the book i always wish to have a magic-flower-book too. i can even imagine what the little book the kids found looks like...)
the kids try a spell to make the invisible visible - and there suddenly the runaway rubert shows up..
.
just another book that makes me wish to live in 1900 at a magic place (or at least in an old castle..)
i just searched to book on amazon + google and didnt find a summary *shocking* it is such a wonderful book first published in 1911. it is about caroline, charlotte and their brother charles. they do on vacations, visiting her uncle who tells them about lost magic books and other things. the kids go searching for the books and have success. they try some of the magic things (most of them have to do with flowers. while reading the book i always wish to have a magic-flower-book too. i can even imagine what the little book the kids found looks like...)
the kids try a spell to make the invisible visible - and there suddenly the runaway rubert shows up..
.
just another book that makes me wish to live in 1900 at a magic place (or at least in an old castle..)
December 30, 2022
What a delightful, magical book! This tale revolves around three siblings who are sent to live with a reclusive uncle while their parents are in India. As the children explore their new surroundings, they discover that their book about flowers helps them work spells and charms. But will the charms help them have their true hearts' desires?
The relationship between these sisters and brother is truly special. There are multiple lessons to be learned in this book, both by the children and the reader. This gentle story is a true treasure.
The relationship between these sisters and brother is truly special. There are multiple lessons to be learned in this book, both by the children and the reader. This gentle story is a true treasure.
October 31, 2025
An underrated Nesbit! Thoroughly enjoyed this one and would put it on par with The Treasure Seekers and WouldBeGoods. Quite a bit of magic and superstition.
January 21, 2019
It was a good book but at parts it seemed to kind of drag. But it is in general a good book.
January 1, 2024
Very much an E. Nesbit book: family of children whose exploring discovers a somehow special place and leads to adventures, often of a magical nature. However, this book sits in an odd place of making all the adventures such that they COULD be natural causes of an unusually coincidental nature. In addition, one of the child characters is a sceptic about the magic, too. It's an interesting difference from her better-known books, but a less satisfying tack. It just doesn't hold together as well or compel the reader as much as some of her better books do.
Nevertheless, it was a pleasant read. In particular, I found it fascinating to see the treatment of lying by one of the characters. Unlike a modern children's book that might shake its head at such an act as bad but understandable from a child, here it is seen by the other children as breathtakingly dishonorable, and it results in some stringent consequences. Such is the Victorian regard for personal and familial honor. Sometimes these kinds of insights are worth reading even mediocre books of a bygone era.
Nevertheless, it was a pleasant read. In particular, I found it fascinating to see the treatment of lying by one of the characters. Unlike a modern children's book that might shake its head at such an act as bad but understandable from a child, here it is seen by the other children as breathtakingly dishonorable, and it results in some stringent consequences. Such is the Victorian regard for personal and familial honor. Sometimes these kinds of insights are worth reading even mediocre books of a bygone era.
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May 5, 2020How had I overlooked this (admittedly unsung) novel by the brilliant children's writer E. Nesbit? Now, for you real kidlit lovers who can follow me in this string of associations... The also-brilliant children's book writer Edward Eager always pays tribute to E. Nesbit in his novels, so that any children reading one of his books will find their way to hers. And his novel Magic or Not, I suspect, is his way of re-telling The Wonderful Garden. And I must say, I think his version is the better one—though I did enjoy this book, too.
October 23, 2020
Listened to Ruth Golding's wonderful reading via LibriVox.
Not exactly what I was looking for but not bad, not bad at all. I enjoyed the use of the language of plants and the way the sympathetic magic always had a result which might have happened anyway. This is more a standard children's story than anything else of Nesbit's that I've read.
Not exactly what I was looking for but not bad, not bad at all. I enjoyed the use of the language of plants and the way the sympathetic magic always had a result which might have happened anyway. This is more a standard children's story than anything else of Nesbit's that I've read.
October 7, 2020
Needed some comfort reading. Nobody does a better job of capturing the way kids think. The conflict in her stories always comes from kids trying to help but not quite understanding how things work. And thankfully, the adults in her stories aren't assholes and steer the kids in the right direction.
December 6, 2018
Very British, pretty fun, fancy and posh, and a little racist. Definitely privileged. But, good to fall asleep to because it's pure innocent childish fun in Victorian England.
January 15, 2019
It was ok but not as good as The Enchanted City.
April 19, 2018
This will be added to my favorites of E. Nesbit. Grounded in reality, a lovely story. Made me want to track down The Language of Flowers to explore as the children did. I love these old fashioned books where the children are on their own, learning through their experimentation and all turns out well in the end.
November 26, 2015
I love Edith Nesbit's books, but this one was not my favorite.
September 27, 2021
Ah, E. Nesbit. She is the balm of my bad days. I always re-read her books whenever I'm feeling down or depressed or unwell. It's always a pleasure to come across her book that I haven't read yet.
This is my introduction to the Three Cs (Caroline, Charlotte, and Charles) and I will be googling to find out if E. Nesbit has written more books featuring them. They're not as zany as The Wouldbegoods siblings but they have the right mix of innocence + inquisitiveness + wanting to do the right things but often, but not always, failing miserably 😂 Unlike the Bastable children (more famous creations of Nesbit's) the Three Cs sometimes do manage to achieve their well-intentioned goals without getting into horrible scrapes or inconvenience their adults too much. Best of all, somehow these more innocent characters work well with Nesbit's dry, deadpan humor.
Kudos to Ruth Golding for narrating this delightful story and acting out the individual character voices so well!
This is my introduction to the Three Cs (Caroline, Charlotte, and Charles) and I will be googling to find out if E. Nesbit has written more books featuring them. They're not as zany as The Wouldbegoods siblings but they have the right mix of innocence + inquisitiveness + wanting to do the right things but often, but not always, failing miserably 😂 Unlike the Bastable children (more famous creations of Nesbit's) the Three Cs sometimes do manage to achieve their well-intentioned goals without getting into horrible scrapes or inconvenience their adults too much. Best of all, somehow these more innocent characters work well with Nesbit's dry, deadpan humor.
Kudos to Ruth Golding for narrating this delightful story and acting out the individual character voices so well!
November 27, 2020
I nearly gave up on this book after the first few chapters, but then suddenly I found myself enjoying it, and it only kept on getting better after that. I think this might be one of those children's books that's actually better for adults, though, since my 10-year-old daughter never really got into it. But what's not to love about idealized British children living at the top of an idealized British society with an idealized British garden? It's beautiful escapism, and the author is having so much fun with it that she occasionally has to break the fourth wall to share her joy directly with the reader-- which never failed to amused THIS reader!
May 29, 2017
I love how witty the children in this story are. Their dialogue just about slays me--we couldn't help but be friends. Alas that neither the title (the Wonderful Garden) or the alternate title (the Three C's) really do the book justice.
It's worth noting any number of times that a particularly superbly read audio version of this book is available through LibriVox thanks to Ruth Golding, which is fortunate as it's not quite the easiest book to obtain otherwise.
It's worth noting any number of times that a particularly superbly read audio version of this book is available through LibriVox thanks to Ruth Golding, which is fortunate as it's not quite the easiest book to obtain otherwise.
February 1, 2021
I love Nesbit, but I was unimpressed with this one. As the ebook i was reading had some problems (always resets to page one when I turn off my phone), I gave up.
Protagonists Charles, Caroline and Charlotte spend the summer with the Uncle Charles they're all named for. When another kid runs away from his Dickensian guardian, they try to help him hide. Most of the adults in their orbit help them instead of doing the expected thing and sending the kid back.
I've enjoyed other non-fantasy novels by Nesbit (e.g., The Would-be-Goods) but this one was "meh."
Protagonists Charles, Caroline and Charlotte spend the summer with the Uncle Charles they're all named for. When another kid runs away from his Dickensian guardian, they try to help him hide. Most of the adults in their orbit help them instead of doing the expected thing and sending the kid back.
I've enjoyed other non-fantasy novels by Nesbit (e.g., The Would-be-Goods) but this one was "meh."
August 28, 2021
Reading the subtext, I'd say there was more than a slap on the wrist with a ruler for poor Rupert than was appropriate to let on in a children's novel. The way he was acting and being treated on the way to his tutor's house (!) shows that he already knew or suspected he had been singled out. He wasn'tjust sulking, he was dissociating. And his "being a boy" of the Edwardian era meant he would not have told anyone. It explains his irrational moods later as well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 29, 2018
I really wanted to like this more than I did. I have enjoyed others books by E. Nesbit but this didn’t have the same sense of fun and adventure as her others. I gave it three stars because it does have some creative moments and I did enjoy the 3 Cs (what the main characters are called). I couldn’t find a copy but LibriVox has a lovely audio version.
March 4, 2019
We listened to this through audible narrated by Claire Walsh. She did a good job. Every character had a different voice that fit them well so you knew immediately who was talking. It did seem to drag at parts and I'd space out a bit, but overall a fun story of the wonder and magic of childhood.
February 8, 2019
My 9yo and I loved listening to the Audible version. We have enjoyed every E Nesbit book we have read!
February 19, 2020
Lots of fun. Children use language of flowers and magical spell books to good effect.
October 14, 2021
Lohtulukemista! Viihdyin kovasti tämän parissa. You can also find it as an audiobook in the public domain, at LibriVox.com. Equally enjoyable. Highly recommended.
March 14, 2022
"Wonderful," indeed! Another Nesbit winner!
November 10, 2023
A delightful book.
xx-dnf-skim-reference
August 12, 2025In print I'd probably finish it, but it's just too long as an ebook for me. I love Nesbit's writing, but I prefer her short stories. The subject of this just doesn't interest me. 23% August 2025
April 23, 2023
Fun, but not quite as much as some of her others I’ve enjoyed. I didn’t fully enjoy everything about the magic parts this time either. It was a bit too heavy-handed on the superstitious stuff. However, the children were delightful as usual, and funny.
May 20, 2016
Very cute story of 3 siblings and their experiences while staying with their uncle. I listened through Librivox.org (Ruth Goulding narrated) and really enjoyed it.
October 5, 2016
Thoroughly enjoyable story
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews