They were a happy family — the parents and three children, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis. Their mother wrote stories and would read them out to the children when they got home from school. On birthdays and other special occasions she wrote them funny poems. Their father, who worked in the foreign office was “never cross, never unjust, and always ready for a game”.
Weaving a fine tale
However, one day, all this changed and they (without their father) had to go and live in the countryside in a house called “Three Chimneys”. It was also near the railway lines. Every morning, at 9.15 a train goes past on its way to London. And every morning the children wave to the train sending their good wishes to their father who they believe is in London.
By being so close to the railway line they are able to avert a railway accident, rescue a boy with a fractured leg who is lying unconscious inside the tunnel and prevent a house from catching fire.
But this outwardly simple life holds unimaginable secrets. Their father has been imprisoned after being falsely accused of being a spy. Money is scarce and life is indeed difficult. The Railway Children is a story of grief and strife and told with such sensitivity that it will move you to tears at times.
The author of this wonderful book was Edith Nesbit. She was born on August 15, 1858. Nesbit believed that children should be told the truth about the world they lived in. The story of The Railway Children was based on a real incident of that time. Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer, was falsely accused of spying and sent to prison.
Nesbit created adventure in her stories and her style of writing was descriptive and gripping. One of her biographers describes her writing thus: “she had an economy of phrase, and an unparalleled talent for evoking hot summer days in the English countryside”.
The Railway Children was made into a film in 1970.
She had the art of being able to combine the real with the magical, allowing her protagonists to travel into worlds of fantasy. Much like P.L. Travers the creator of the much-loved governess Mary Poppins.
Nesbit’s other novels for children include the Bastable series, The Story of the Treasure Seekers, The Wouldbegoods, The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Story of the Amulet, The Enchanted Castle, The Wonderful Garden and more.
