Edith's lifestyle - her short hair, her all-wool clothing, her habit of smoking in public - all proclaimed her to be a woman who was seeking to break out of the mould that convention demanded at the time.

Her books for children, by 'E. Nesbit', almost happened on their own, when she was 40. (Her use of the plain initial 'E' led to her being mistaken for a man, which delighted her.) Stories for children were among her magazine contributions, and in 1892, the firm of Raphael Tuck brought out her first complete book for children, The Voyage of Columbus, in verse. She followed this up by several short stories, collections and articles for magazines. And in 1898 she produced, for the Pall Mall and Windsor magazines, a series of stories about Oswald Bastable and his family. These were published as a book 1899, The Story of the Treasure Seekers, which was instantly successful.

This was followed by more successes - Five Children and It (1902), The Phoenix and the Carpet, The New Treasure Seekers, The Story of the Amulet, The Railway Children...

Hubert Bland died in 1914, and Edith felt her life cut off short by his death. She went through a period of loneliness, ill health and poverty, till 1917, when she married T.T. Tucker, a widowed marine engineer and an old friend. She enlisted him as collaborator for some of her short stories.

Edith died in 1924, at the age of 65.

Edith Nesbit had always dreamed of becoming a writer. She wrote prolifically throughout her life - articles, poems, and stories in a variety of genres. She found her true place in the genre of children's writing, though she never gave this aspect of her writing the importance it deserved.

Edith Nesbit cont'd... 
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