Harding's Luck by Edith Nesbit
Harding's Luck by Edith Nesbit: A young boy named Harding inherits a magical luck charm from his great-uncle, which brings him both good and bad fortune.
By Edith Nesbit · First published 1905 · Genre: Fantasy, Children's Literature, Adventure · 12 chapters · 86,030 words
First lines
Dickie lived at New Cross. At least the address was New Cross, but really the house where he lived was one of a row of horrid little houses built on the slope where once green fields ran down the hill to the river, and the old houses of the Deptford merchants stood stately in their pleasant gardens and fruitful orchards. All those good fields and happy gardens are built over now. It is as though some wicked giant had taken a big brush full of yellow ochre paint, and another full of mud color, and had painted out the green in streaks of dull yellow and filthy brown; and the brown is the roads and the yellow is the houses. Miles and miles and miles of them, and not a green thing to be seen except the cabbages in the greengrocers' shops, and here and there some poor trails of creeping-jenny drooping from a dirty windowsill. There is a little yard at the back of each house; this is called "the garden," and some of these show green -- but they only show it to the houses' back windows.
What this Textopian page supports
Harding's Luck is listed on Textopian as a novel by Edith Nesbit, dated 1905 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Novel
- Author: Edith Nesbit
- Date: 1905 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Fantasy, Children's Literature, Adventure, Historical Fiction
- Length: 86,030 words
- Structure: 12 chapters, 1,888 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Harding's Luck by Edith Nesbit
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph
Discussion starters
- What should a reader notice first when entering Harding's Luck?
- How does this novel by Edith Nesbit fit its genre, period, or classroom use?
- Where does Fantasy first become important in the reading?
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Genres
- Fantasy — The book involves magic and time travel, as Dickie Harding travels between the present and an imagined medieval past
- Children's Literature — This work is intended for a younger audience, dealing with the adventures and moral tests of a young boy
- Adventure — The protagonist experiences numerous adventures in both his present and in the past, each involving new challenges and tests
- Historical Fiction — Though not necessarily adhering to specific historical events, the medieval world which Dickie visits provides a form of historical context and atmosphere
Tags
adventure · children · fantasy · friendship · imagination · family · moral lessons · victorian · humor · social class · courage · growth
Contents
- Tinkler and the Moonflower
- Burglars
- The Escape
- Which Was the Dream?
- "To Get Your Own Living"
- Buried Treasure
- Dickie Learns Many Things
- Going Home
- Kidnapped
- The Noble Deed
- Lord Arden
- The End