According to her biographer, Julia Briggs, E. Nesbit was "the first modern writer for children": Nesbit "helped to reverse the great tradition of children's literature inaugurated by Lewis Carroll, George MacDonald and Kenneth Grahame, in turning away from their secondary worlds to the tough truths to be won from encounters with things-as-they-are, previously the province of adult novels." Briggs also credits Nesbit with having invented the children's adventure story.
This selection chosen by the critic August Nemocontains the following stories:
- The Ebony Frame
- John Charrington's Wedding
- Uncle Abraham's Romance
- The Mystery Of The Semi-Detached
- From The Dead
- Man-Size In Marble
- The Mass For The Dead
