{"title": "Harding's Luck", "covers": [3259621, 879271, 9011790, 11356578, 12622121, 13222995], "key": "/works/OL7984876W", "authors": [{"author": {"key": "/authors/OL18053A"}, "type": {"key": "/type/author_role"}}], "type": {"key": "/type/work"}, "subjects": ["Fantasy fiction"], "description": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "

Harding\u2019s Luck, published in 1909, is the sequel to The House of Arden by E. Nesbit.

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Rather darker and more serious in tone than the previous book, this novel is set in England\u2019s Edwardian era, when there was no government-supported welfare and the poor still sometimes starved to death. It centers on young Dickie Harding, a poor, lame orphan boy who is enticed to run away with a disreputable tramp, Mr. Beale. Beale intends to use him to help carry out burglaries (a plot device not dissimilar to that of Oliver Twist). Nevertheless Beale becomes a substitute father-figure to Dickie and a strong mutual affection develops.

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The story then introduces a magical device which sends Dickie back in time to the early reign of King James I, where he inhabits the body of the son of the lord of a castle. Despite this new, very comfortable existence, where he is a member of a rich, respected family and no longer lame, Dickie selflessly forces himself to return to his present day because of a promise he had made to Beale and a desire to help Beale lead a more honest life.

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Nesbit was a member of the socially-progressive Fabian Society and a friend of H. G. Wells, and it shows in her stories. While Harding\u2019s Luck is primarily a children\u2019s novel, it touches on many deeper themes and comments seriously on the social conditions of the author\u2019s time.

"}, "genres": ["/tags/OL169T"], "latest_revision": 10, "revision": 10, "created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2009-12-10T22:16:18.717663"}, "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2026-08-29T19:41:27.171453"}}