Rereading: THE WONDERFUL GARDEN by E. Nesbit

Illustrated by H. R. Millar

Caroline, Charles, and Charlotte have parents away in India, and they live with an aunt and uncle who are rather dull. They’re delighted to learn their Great-Uncle Charles has invited them to stay at his large home for the summer. They’ve never met him, but when they arrive, they find him friendly, though the housekeeper is less so. They’ve heard about this house’s wonderful garden, and it’s beautiful and full of all kinds of flowers and plants, tended by a gardener, from a long line of gardeners in that role.

While exploring the house, the children find several books about flowers and herbs: one explaining how flowers can be used to send messages, the others are very old books using plants for healing and magic spells. They decide to try some of the spells, and surprisingly, they do seem to work, though there are always other more mundane explanations.

While en route to their summer home, the children had met a slightly older boy, Rupert, who was very unhappy with HIS summer lodging with a very strict tutor, and Rupert runs away and ends up in the wonderful garden, where the children help him hide out from the police. Later, their uncle allows Rupert to stay, and the four children have all kinds of adventures with and without the magic spells.

As a child I was disappointed that the magic in this book was not “real,” as it is in some of Nesbit’s books. This one is closer to her non-magic books about the Bastable family, but lacks the clever narration of Oswald Bastable that made those so amusing. Still worth a read and recommended.

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