NESBIT, E(DITH)

born Aug. 15, 1858, London died May 4, 1924, New Romney, Kent, Eng. British children's author, novelist, and poet. Nesbit spent her childhood in France and Germany and later led an ordinary country life in Kent, which provided scenes for her books. She was interested in socialism and was one of the founders of the association known as the Fellowship of New Life, out of which grew the Fabian Society. Nesbit began writing fiction for children in the early 1890s, and she eventually produced more than 60 books for juveniles, as well as some less-successful novels and collections of poetry for adults. Her children's books are marked by vivid characterizations, ingenious plots, and an easy, humorous narrative style. She wrote both tales of fantasy or magic, in which children in everyday circumstances are confronted with an extraordinary character or event, and naturalistic comedies of juvenile behaviour or childish misadventure. Among her best-known books are The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), The Wouldbegoods (1901), The Revolt of the Toys, and What Comes of Quarreling (1902), Five Children and It (1902), and The Story of the Amulet (1906), in which an ancient Egyptian priest suddenly materializes in 19th-century London.