I never read this, or any Nesbit, when I was a kid. But the great thing about books is that they’re happy to wait for you (assuming they’re in print or haven’t been burnt by conservatives). Thankfully, The Railway Children was patiently waiting for me.* And it was lovely, though, like so much children’s literature, there’s an aching sadness at the novel’s core.

The titular children are the siblings: Bobbie (Roberta), Peter and Phyllis. When we first meet them they’re living a happy middle-class life with Mother and Father in London. Then, one night, some men come along and take Father away. No explanation is given. Next thing the kids know, they’re in the country with Mother in a house called The Three Chimneys located next to the railway. Mother, who states they’re now poor, locks herself in a room to write stories. The siblings cannot go to school and explore their surrounding environment, including the railway. Shenanigans unfurl from there, including helping lost Russian exiles, sending coded messages to kindly old gentlemen, coming to the aid of a teenager who has broken his leg in the rail tunnel, and, of course, flagging down a train with torn red petticoats before it’s derailed by fallen rocks.

The aching sadness is two-fold. It’s the hole left by Father (I did chuckle, though, when it’s revealed why he’s vanished — I thought I’d entered an episode of The Sandbaggers) and the depression suffered by Mother. The sale of the odd story does see Mother momentarily break free of her gloom, but it remains ever-present. Nesbitt’s treatment of depression, though, is gentle and compassionate. I loved how Bobbie does everything she can to mitigate her mother’s pain.

But what shines through are the siblings. They are simply lovely, and spending time with them is a joy. The fact that Nesbitt is more than happy to put them all in perilous danger is just part of the fun. (I just hope that most kids of the early 20th Century knew better than to stand in front of a moving train).

I should probably now read Nesbit’s ghost stories.

*No, I’ve never seen the films of TV series.