6 h 55 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the city you build from household odds and ends comes alive—and needs you to save it?
Philip feels lonely in an unfamiliar home. His older sister Helen looks after him, but he needs somewhere to belong. So he builds a city from everyday things. Then play becomes something far stranger: he discovers that he can step inside the world he has made.
The city has people, troubles, and hopes of its own. Its citizens see Philip as their long-awaited Deliverer, the person who will set things right. Lucy, a girl from the house, joins his adventure. Together they share its dangers and wonder, while Philip faces a question: what does a maker owe his creation?
What you’ll discover
- Magic in ordinary things Watch household odds and ends become a living city that Philip can enter.
- A place to belong Follow a lonely boy whose imagined world gives him more than an escape.
- A world with demands Meet citizens who look to their maker for help with troubles of their own.
- Wonder shared with Lucy Join Philip and Lucy as they face the dangers and marvels of his creation.
- Warmth beneath the adventure Enjoy Nesbit's teasing narrator, with jokes for adults and real feeling beneath the fun.
Who will love it
Perfect for readers who love children's fantasy, inventive make-believe, and gentle humor, and for anyone who once built a fort, a castle, or a whole kingdom out of whatever lay around the house.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A boy loses his sister to a stranger
- Alone at the Grange, Philip builds
- A moonlit city where Philip is a trespasser
- Philip goes back for Lucy and faces a dragon
- Two children learn to work together
- Lions, a camel, and a most unusual parrot
- A fear by the sea and a very unlikely ark
- Books bring wonders and dangers
- What the story is about and how it is told
Who’s who
- Philip HaldaneA clever ten-year-old who builds beautiful cities from household things and struggles to accept his sister's marriage and the girl who comes with it.
- Lucy GrahamThe daughter of Helen's new husband, tall, freckled, cheerful, and endlessly inventive, who wants a real friend and keeps finding clever solutions.
- HelenPhilip's loving half-sister, who raised him and invented their island with him, and who hopes he will find room in his heart for others.
- Mr. NoahThe solemn chief judge of the magic city, a Noah's Ark figure who loves rules, yellow mats, and arranging the seven deeds.
- Mr. PerrinThe friendly carpenter who made Philip's bricks and guides him through the new land with plain good sense.
- The PretenderetteA veiled lady who claims she should be the Deliverer and sets out to spoil the children's adventure at every turn.
- Polly the parrotA well-read, sharp-tongued bird who guides the expedition, understands all animals, and always has a remark ready.
- Max and BrendaTwo dachshunds, one grave and loyal, the other sweetly fearful, who travel with the children and bicker about courage.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 6 h 55 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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25 languages, side by side
Read and hear The Magic City in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Magic City
by E. Nesbit · 1910
A lonely boy builds a city from toys, then enters it by moonlight and finds himself under arrest.
Easy read5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Can a boy build a city so well that he can walk into it? Philip, ten years old and angry that his sister Helen is marrying, does just that.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A boy loses his sister to a stranger
Philip Haldane lives in a little red-roofed house with his half-sister Helen, who is twenty years older and has been his mother in everything but name. She teaches him, plays with him, and draws maps of their pretend island, where he is king and she is queen. Nobody else is allowed there.
Then a tall man in tweed comes out of the garden gate, and the whispering begins. Helen tells Philip she will marry her old friend Peter Graham, who has a fine house and a daughter named Lucy. Philip shouts that he hates them all and hides in the boot cupboard among the cricket stumps and galoshes.
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What is The Magic City about?
A lonely boy named Philip builds a city from toys and bricks, then finds himself inside it. To get home, he and Lucy must complete seven deeds and outwit a persistent rival.
Who is the Pretenderette in The Magic City?
She is a veiled woman in a motor veil who claims she should be the Deliverer and keeps interfering with the children's tasks. Her real identity is part of the story's surprises.
What are the seven deeds in The Magic City?
Philip must face a dragon, untangle a carpet, and free the Dwellers by the Sea from their fear, with more tasks still to come. Each one is clever and unusual.
The author
E. Nesbit
1858–1924 · English children's writer and poet
Edith Nesbit (1858–1924) was an English author and poet who published as E. Nesbit. She was born in London and later lived in Kent. Her children’s books include The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), Five Children and It (1902), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904), and The Railway Children (1906).
More by E. Nesbit
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