(1906)
is an acclaimed novel for younger readers by Edith Nesbit. It relates the experiences of three children, Roberta (“Bobbie”), Peter and Phyllis, who are forced to move away from middle-class life in London when their father is arrested upon charges of espionage (incriminating documents have been planted in his desk by a colleague). The family relocate to a rural village alongside a railway track, where they live in reduced circumstances and are largely left to their own devices, whilst their mother attempts to earn a living as a writer.
This premise is a familiar one in the many respects within the worlds of Nesbit’s fiction: the collective endeavours of the children recall other novels that she was working on during this period, such as The Story of the
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Citation: Creasy, Matthew. "The Railway Children". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 February 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39014, accessed 09 November 2024.]