Condition: Good. The book is in very good condition. The dust cover is torn and held in place by a clear plastic dust cover. The author, Noel Streatfeild, has written many popular children's books. In this book, she traces the early life of another great children's writer - E. Nesbit. The book was published on the centenary of Nesbit's birth (1858). She discovers some of the reasons why the Nesbit books have their particular 'magic'. Although E. Nesbit did not write any books until she was over forty, the world she described in them was that of her own childhood. Fortunately, she left a very full account of her early life and from this the author has been able to trace some of the threads that led to the making of E. Nesbit, the writer. She also has much of interest to say about the Nesbit books themselves, and her appreciation of the Bastable stories, the Psammead, the Phoenix and the Mouldiwarp books, and The Railway Children give a fascinating insight into the art of writing for c