The Bastable Family Stories

Trouble and poverty sometimes come to the house. For adults, it’s a reason to get upset, work hard, worry about investments and loans. But for children, it’s a great excuse to set off in search of treasure. And that’s exactly what the six Bestable brothers and sisters did. They decided to help their widowed father get rich. But as soon as they switched on their imagination, countless other fun ways to add to the family budget immediately appeared! For example, publishing a book of poems of their own composition, working as private detectives and carrying out an investigation, or saving an elderly gentleman from trouble so that, in gratitude, he would leave the children a large inheritance. Or, in the worst case, becoming robbers and taking an unsuspecting, carefree traveler captive—of course, hoping for a ransom.

And this is only part of the exciting stories from the life of the Bestable family included in this very collection. Thanks to the writing talent of Edith Nesbit, admired by such masters of words as C. S. Lewis, J. K. Rowling, and Diana Wynne Jones, boredom won’t happen even for the most discerning reader.