Edith Nesbit a thief?

Edith Nesbit is one of my favorite children's book authors. Now, another author, Ada J. Graves, wrote a book about "railway children" some 9 years before Edith did, and the similarities of the story line are there...


Edith Nesbit accused of plagiarism

Quite possible. It is also possible that both ladies were inspired by the same story, perhaps a news article. Anyway, what I find incredibly amusing is that both ladies have been dead a good while, and this "theft" happened over 100 years ago. Nevertheless, there are people taking sides in this story.

"There was a huge sweep of railways spreading across Britain from the 1830s and it had a profound effect on the whole country, so it was inevitable that there would be children's fiction about railways, and it's a classic trope of children's adventure that the children do something crucial that saves the day. In a book about railways, that's likely to be something to do with saving a train, and red has always been the colour of danger. I don't think it's enough of a coincidence to be certain."
- Kate Agnew

 Ok... so are there more stories like this around? 

I don't think it makes Edith Nesbit look bad. She published more than 40 books, when mrs. Graves published two, and not even her own grandchild had read her books until she was over 60. Edith Nesbit's books have influenced many of my favorite authors:

"She created an innovative body of work that combined realistic, contemporary children in real-world settings with magical objects and adventures and sometimes travel to fantastic worlds. In doing so, she was a direct or indirect influence on many subsequent writers, including P. L. Travers (author of Mary Poppins), Edward Eager, Diana Wynne Jones and J. K. Rowling. C. S. Lewis wrote of her influence on his Narnia  series and mentions the Bastable children in The Magician's Nephew. Michael Moorcock  would go on to write a series of steampunk novels with an adult Oswald Bastable (of The Treasure Seekers) as the lead character."

and the Railway Children was not even her main work... I started reading Edith Nesbit after having read C.S.Lewis' biography.

It's only her Railway Children that has been translated into Finnish... interestingly enough. I think I need to do that. :-)

Let's say she read Ada's book and stole some interesting storylines. She has fame enough for two Victorian writers :-D Let's republish Ada's book and let us decide for ourselves, huh?