Audiobook · read by volunteers
New Treasure Seekers
E. Nesbit (1858–1924)
Read by leore_joanne, Lars Rolander (1942-2016), Xe Sands, Sibella Denton, Joan Freeman, Lucy Burgoyne (1950-2014), Chloey Winters, Maire Rhode · 13 chapters · 6 h 54
About the book
The Bastable children are back, and they are as full of schemes as ever. Oswald, Dora, Dicky, Alice, H. O. and Noel can never leave a quiet hour alone. Their plans, which are meant to restore the family fortunes, or simply to fill a holiday, lead to adventures that rarely turn out the way they intended. They tell fortunes at a fete, they unwittingly help along an elopement, they try to improve a most disagreeable cousin, and, on one occasion, they even get arrested. Oswald is the narrator, and his cheerful self-regard is a constant source of comedy. E. Nesbit’s wit and her understanding of how children think make this a book for all ages. Thirteen recordings, nearly seven hours.
Introduction
E. Nesbit (1858-1924) was an English author who changed the way stories for children were written. Her style is conversational and humorous, her child characters speak and think like real children, and she knew that young readers enjoy being treated as equals. The New Treasure Seekers, published in 1904, is the sequel to The Story of the Treasure Seekers and follows the Bastable family through a further round of ingenious schemes.
The book is made up of separate episodes, each with its own title, such as The Road to Rome, or the Silly Stowaway; The Conscience-Pudding; Archibald the Unpleasant; and Over the Water to China. They can be enjoyed one at a time, but there are running threads that tie them together, especially the children’s efforts to help their father and the affection that underlies their quarrels.
The narrator is Oswald, who claims to be telling the story modestly and does not manage it at all. This is the main joke of the book, and part of its charm: readers see through him, and love him anyway.
The recording was made by LibriVox volunteers and has thirteen files, running to nearly seven hours. It is a fine choice for family listening, for admirers of classic children’s literature, and for anyone who enjoys comic writing with a kind heart. The episodes can be heard separately, yet taken together they build a lively picture of family life, with its rivalries, its loyalties and its shared jokes. Readers who knew the first book will enjoy meeting the children again, and newcomers will have no difficulty picking up the characters as they go.
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