Audiobook · read by volunteers
Enchanted Castle
E. Nesbit (1858–1924)
Read by Peter Eastman · 12 chapters · 7 h 14
About the book
Three children are stuck at school over the holidays, and they are bored. Then, in the grounds of a grand country house, they stumble upon a castle that seems to have stepped out of a fairy tale, with a sleeping princess at the heart of its maze. Or so it appears. The castle turns out to be an ordinary estate, and the princess a housekeeper’s niece who is only playing at dress-up.
But the game does not stay a game. A ring, found by chance, begins to grant wishes, and E. Nesbit takes delight in showing what happens when wishes are made carelessly: statues step down from their plinths, the invisible wander through the garden, and the children learn that magic has its own rules and a talent for making trouble.
Twelve chapters, about seven hours: funny, eerie and full of invention, for listeners of any age.
Introduction
Edith Nesbit (1858-1924), who published as E. Nesbit, was one of the most influential English writers for children. Her books, among them The Railway Children and Five Children and It, replaced the earnest, moralising tone of much Victorian children’s literature with something livelier: real children who quarrel, scheme and make mistakes, and who meet magic that behaves in unpredictable ways.
The Enchanted Castle appeared in 1907. It follows a pattern she used with great success, in which ordinary children meet an extraordinary object and must live with the consequences of their wishes. What distinguishes this book is its mood. Alongside the comedy there are passages of real strangeness and even unease, and the setting, a large garden full of statues, hedges and hidden corners, is described with obvious pleasure. Nesbit was later admired by writers such as C. S. Lewis and J. K. Rowling for the way she blended the domestic and the marvellous, and it is easy to hear why.
This recording has twelve chapters and runs for about seven hours, read by a LibriVox volunteer. The pace is relaxed, and the story is easily enjoyed in short sittings, one chapter at a time. It suits listeners of any age: younger ones will enjoy the adventure, while adults will notice the wit and the gently ironic narrator.
More than a century on, the book remains fresh, and a good reminder that the best children’s stories never talk down to their audience.
Public domain
E. Nesbit died in 1924: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text