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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if saving your crumbling family home means stepping into the lives of your ancestors?
Edred Arden and his younger sister, Elfrida, have an old family name but little of its former wealth. Both want to restore their home and their family's fortunes. Then the Mouldiwarp appears: a touchy, talking mole linked to the Arden crest, with the power to send them into the past.
In E. Nesbit's The House of Arden, the children visit earlier periods of English history and meet ancestors who share their name. Their quest reaches beyond money and crumbling walls. As teasing and bickering give way to teamwork, Edred and Elfrida explore what belonging to this long family story means.
What you’ll discover
- A grumpy magical guide Meet the Mouldiwarp, whose touchy temper makes this journey through time anything but ordinary.
- History with a family face Step into earlier ages of England alongside children meeting the people behind their own name.
- Siblings learning to cooperate Follow bright, bossy Elfrida and hopeful Edred as they move from squabbling toward working together.
- More than lost wealth Explore a family legacy that means more than restoring money, a house, or a name.
- A warm, teasing storyteller Enjoy Nesbit's jokes and direct asides as she reveals what the children cannot yet see.
Who will love it
This book is for readers who love time travel, hidden treasure, secret panels and castles, and for anyone who enjoys a warm, funny narrator who talks straight to you.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A great family has little left
- Magic begins with a kindness rule
- The past is full of people
- Elfrida learns to trust her courage
- Edred acts for someone else
- Treasure is not the only help
- Magical rules leave room for invention
- Kindness gives the adventures their meaning
Who’s who
- Edred ArdenA stubborn, imaginative boy who becomes Lord Arden at nearly ten and longs to find the family treasure and rebuild the castle.
- Elfrida ArdenEdred's older sister, brave and persistent, who makes up poetry to call the Mouldiwarp and wants adventures in history.
- The MouldiwarpThe white mole badge of the Ardens, cross and clever, who grants the children visits to the past if they stay kind.
- Aunt EdithThe children's loving aunt, who rents rooms to keep the family fed and wants only their happiness.
- Mrs. HoneysettThe warm old housekeeper at the castle, who feeds the children, keeps them safe and sings old songs.
- Betty LovellA wise woman who is called a witch in several ages, and who helps the children after Elfrida shows her kindness.
- Cousin RichardA cheerful, bold boy of the past who meets the children in the Gunpowder Plot days and later reaches into their own time.
- Old BealeA village elder who knows every old story of the castle and urges the children to help others without treasure.
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The House of Arden
by E. Nesbit · 1908
Edred says a spell on a hill at sunset while Elfrida listens, and a talking white mole opens the past.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“She had an economy of phrase and an unparalleled talent for evoking hot summer days in the English countryside.”
In short
What would you do if a talking white mole told you that you could walk into the past? That is the offer made to Edred and Elfrida Arden, a brother and sister who live in a seaside lodging house with no money at all.
The House of Arden at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 50 min3 h 50 min fast, 5 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 68,500 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1908by E. Nesbit
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Two children in a house full of lodgers
The Ardens were once a great family with farms, squires and men-at-arms. A head of the house once rode three days to meet King Henry, and the King came home with him to sleep in the castle. Now the lands are gone and the castle has no roof. Only two male Ardens are known to be alive, an old lord in a hut and a boy of nearly ten named Edred.
Edred lives with his sister Elfrida and their Aunt Edith in Cliff House. Their father and Aunt Edith's sweetheart went to South America to make a fortune. Then came word of brigands, and later of death. With no money left, Aunt Edith rents rooms to lodgers, and the children hate it.
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Details
- First published
- 1908
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 35 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Nesbit, E. The House of Arden. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-house-of-arden.
Nesbit, E. (2026). The house of Arden. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-house-of-arden (Original work published 1908)
Nesbit, E. The House of Arden. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-house-of-arden.
@book{nesbit2026house,
author = {Nesbit, E.},
title = {The House of Arden},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-house-of-arden},
note = {First published 1908}
}
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What is The House of Arden about?
It follows Edred and Elfrida Arden, poor children who learn that Edred is the new Lord Arden. A talking white mole called the Mouldiwarp sends them into history to search for a lost family treasure.
What is the Mouldiwarp?
The Mouldiwarp is the badge, or crest, of the Arden family, a white mole that talks. It is cross and clever, answers to poetry and uses white magic such as feather and daisy clocks to move the children through time.
When was The House of Arden written?
E. Nesbit wrote it in 1908, and the story is set in that year. It is a fantasy, not a true story, but the past visits include real events such as the Gunpowder Plot and Napoleon's threat.
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).
“Make me brave and kind and wise,”
More by E. Nesbit
See all their booksMore like this
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