Harding's Luck

Young Dickie Harding, an orphaned cripple living with an abusive aunt in the New Cross area of Edwardian London, falls in with the wandering burglar Mr. Beale in this engaging time-slip adventure from the celebrated E. Nesbit. Becoming fond of this adoptive father figure, he is unprepared when he himself is pressed into service in the robbing of a great house. Eventually finding his way back to London after this incident, he is carried back in time by magic, and finds himself in the shoes of Richard Arden, a son of wealth and privilege in the days of King James I. Although thoroughly enjoying his time in the past, especially the fact that he has the full use of both legs in this period, Dickie ends up traveling back and forth between show more times, always returning to the present in order to help Mr. Beale start a new life. Eventually he meets up with Elfrida and Edred Arden, two other young time travelers whose adventures were told in The House of Arden, and discovers that he has a connection to them, in both past and present. But where and when, in the end, does Dickie himself truly belong...?

Having greatly enjoyed The House of Arden, in which Dickie figures as a secondary character, I was excited to pick up Harding's Luck, and find out more about his back story. On the whole I was not disappointed, enjoying Dickie's adventures in both present and past. I thought the whole sub-plot with Mr. Beale, although highly unlikely—would a young boy have been able to guide and reform someone so many years his elder?—was actually quite moving. Nesbit was a member of the Fabian Society, which advocated democratic socialism, and her concern for the working class and poor is very evident in this part of the book. I also enjoyed encountering more of the magic moles of the Arden family—the Mouldiwarp (first encountered in the previous book), the Mouldierwarp and the Mouldiestwarp—and I thought the magic whereby Dickie got to the past, with its use of the moon seeds, was very interesting. I derived great satisfaction from the fact that the lost treasure of Arden was finally found—something that bothered me about the first book was the lack of resolution of this issue—and I was happy (although not surprised) to discover Dickie's relationship to Elfrida and Edred. All this being said, I wasn't entirely happy with the conclusion here, and felt it was something of a cop-out, so that Lord Arden didn't really have to surrender his position. I also found myself wondering about the fate of the real Richard Arden on King James I's time. Would the fact that Dickie decided to live in the past permanently mean that his life had been entirely stolen? Where and when would he be, while Dickie was living his life? Leaving this critique aside, I still enjoyed this one, and would recommend it to anyone who had read and enjoyed The House of Arden. show less

A family read-a-loud that we all enjoyed so much. A bit of fantasy, mystery, historical, and much character-building along the way!

Another great Nesbit, sequel to House of Arden. The tone occasionally gets too earnest for me (Dickie's goodness is slightly over the top) but still a wonderful story.

I definitely recommend reading the first book in the series before this one. It was very enjoyable, but I dropped a star because I didn't like the ending.

I was glad I had read House of Arden first. I didn't realize that this was connected to it. Nicely fit together the two of them. A lovely old-fashioned book. I enjoyed it. I will share it with my friends in the Vintage Book Circle.