Just wonderful! The search for treasure that leads to the unexpected and greatest treasure of all! I enjoyed the way Ms Nesbit spoke to the reader. Sometimes this bothers me, but here it felt natural. This book was donated to the library in honor of my dear friend and coworker Geraldine. It is just the sort of book she would have loved, a perfect tribute! I highly recommend! ( )

I love this author. I do. I'll read anything she writes. I won't always love it, but I'll read it, because I know that each individual sentence, at least, won't irk.

This isn't one of my favourites, though, because (a) the magic system was weird and inconsistent, (b) I'm not a huge fan of "let's time travel to different periods" books (I love time travel books, but for the plot twists and turns they can engender, not for a light history lesson), and (c) the characters themselves weren't so thrilling.

It may say something that I thought the tightest, tensest passages were literally about developing photographic prints. Seriously! That was a great scene.

If you're an E. Nesbit fan and you enjoy light historical time travel books, then this will be much more up your alley. Also, I'm 54, so not the original target marget.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! ( )

Anyone who has loved, read, or written children's fantasy needs to read E. Nesbit. All of her books are good, some are great, but what impresses me is that she always gets the children exactly right. Their reactions are absolutely believable, every time. I also like the way the fantasies flow out of games and fantasies children actually have. Imagine having your own ruined castle to explore. It has a cool attic full of mysterious chests. The chests are full of clothes from olden days - and when you try them on, you go back in time and have adventures. ( )

One of the best Nesbit I've read. More thoughtful, and sophisticated, more dramatic, less twee, than others. The moral lessons are more carefully presented. The historical time travel is fascinating. The characters are well-rounded. The magic is, imo, perfect - just sufficient to enable the adventure, with rules that make wonderful sense, and a beauty that reminds me of the best of [a:George MacDonald|2413|George MacDonald|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1201019294p2/2413.jpg].

My only 'complaint' is the unsatisfactory ending. I've been trying to think about the literary merit of ending the book that way, only to get here to GR and see that there's a sequel. I wonder if the author had the sequel planned while writing that ending, or bowed to pressure to write it.

Another concern some might have is a bit of classism, but it's only what is fitting for a British story from 1908. There are also lots of references to sexism, but the author (not surprisingly, because the E. is for Edith, after all) rejects gender stereotypes and, in fact, one could argue that the changing roles of male and female, over the centuries in Britain, is one of her themes.

Now I just have to decide whether to seek out the sequel... I think I will, just for more of this brilliant writing. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. It took me back to the kinds of stories I enjoyed so much as a kid. One slight downside was that I knew from the start what was going to happen at the end, and one subplot that didn't resolve, and probably could have. It was a sweet story despite that. ( )