Best known as the author of such children's novels as The Railway Children and The Story of the Treasure-Seekers, the English writer E. Nesbit (1858-1924) also authored fiction, drama, and poetry for adults. In addition she was active in political causes and together with her husband, Hubert Bland, the playwright Bernard Shaw, and others, founded the Fabian Society in England to further socialist aims.

Early Life

Nesbit was born August 15, 1858, in London to Sarah and John Collis Nesbit, a chemist who taught at an agricultural college in south London that had been established by his father. Nesbit's earliest years appear idyllic as she and her brothers, Arthur and Harry, were free to roam and play on the expansive grounds of the school. This period came to an abrupt end, however, with the sudden death of her father at age 43 in 1862. Nesbit's mother assumed the role of providing for...