The Enchanted Castle (Wildside Classics) - Hardcover

Nesbit, E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1434416984 ISBN 13: 9781434416988

Publisher: Wildside Press, 2010

Synopsis

The enchanted castle is a country estate in the West Country of England, as seen through the eyes of three children, Gerald, James and Kathleen, who discover it while exploring during the school holidays. The lake, groves and marble statues, with white towers and turrets in the distance, make a fairy-tale setting, and then in the middle of the maze in the rose garden they find a sleeping fairy-tale princess.

The "princess" tells them that the castle is full of magic, and they almost believe her. She shows them the treasures of the castle, including a ring she says is a ring of invisibility, but when it actually turns her invisible she panics and admits that she is the housekeeper's niece, Mabel, and was just play-acting.

The children soon discover that the ring has other magical powers...

About this title

Review:

A plot summary makes this story sound ordinary by children's literature standards: the summer adventures of four children who discover an enchanted castle and a magic ring. But Edith Nesbit's adored classic (written in 1907) is so much more than the description suggests. Right from the start, the author plays with the idea of magic, teasing us with a sleeping princess who turns out to be a fake. Elsewhere, the magic is "real" as can be--in fact, though written nearly 100 years ago, The Enchanted Castle prefigures the magical realism of modern novels in the matter-of-fact way it weaves the uncanny into the children's everyday life. And, while few authors are confident enough to parody bad writing, Nesbit does it hilariously (and ever so gently) through one character's tendency to "talk like a book": "'To brush his hair and his clothes... was to our hero but the work of a moment,' said Gerald." Things turn scary when the Ugly Wuglies, fake people made from painted cardboard masks, old clothes, and broomsticks, come to life. But on the whole this book about enchantment--much praised by such luminaries as H.G. Wells and Noel Coward--is, simply, enchanting. (Ages 6 and older) --Richard Farr

About the Author:

EDITH NESBIT (1858-1924) lived in England and had dreamed of becoming a poet since she was fifteen years old. After her husband fell ill, it was up to her to support her small family. For the next nineteen years, she published a number of novels, essays, articles, poems, and short stories. But it was not until 1899, when The Story of the Treasure Seekers was published, that she achieved great success. Her groundbreaking style of depicting realistic, believable children quickly gained a popularity that has lasted for more than a century. She was brilliant at combining real-life situations with elements of fantasy and humour. Films such as The Railway Children have kept her stories in the public eye and her magical fantasies, including Five Children and It, continue to delight each new generation of children.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1434416984
• ISBN 13: 9781434416988
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 170