A magazine writer and his illustrator wife inherit a house thats far too big for them to comfortably manage. Its a little bit like 'The Money Pit'.
An ALMOST offensively nice story, just managing to avoid being twee due to some excellent characterization.
Its very unusual to find a marriage relationship this well written and with such equality. Especially from something of this period. I had no idea Nesbit wrote non-childrens books so this was a very pleasant surprise. ( )

ebook available here ( )

This is an awesome book. It's not your typical E. Nesbit novel—it features adults (a newly married couple) instead of children. Nevertheless, E. Nesbit still delivers her characteristic light-hearted story.The book if rife with quotes. There are loads of terms, idioms and French sayings you might not know—so have a really old (ca. 1902) British dictionary handy (the Internet's great, isn't it?), and you'll learn a lot of things.I was quite surprised to see that this book is intertwined with another E. Nesbit novel I've read. I mean, in that book, there is a common event, with the same characters (although told from a different perspective). I was surprised to learn that I had read about the main characters in this novel already, in the other novel (although I don't know that it mentions their names). I like it when stuff like that happens.Anyway, I guess since this /is/ about a newly married couple and their house you could say it's somewhat of a clean romance story—although it may not be of the typical style in that regard. Nevertheless, it's about a lot more than romance, and I think anyone could benefit from it.There is a scene that might at first seem terrifying and out of character for this book, but don't fret. Read on and you'll see what's going on.There are some interesting morals to be gained from this book—not ones I've seen a lot of elsewhere; particularly through Yolande's character.Just as a personal note, I finished this book not long after midnight (so perhaps I should have marked it as being finished on the 28th instead of the 29th—I figured I'd be precise).I was a little put out about certain attitudes of the main characters, particularly toward Albert Morrison. They call him a muff, and they don't give any reason—I think the other characters did that in the other book, too, but I'm not sure. Also, they seem a little uppity in their attitudes at times (fortunately, not all the time, and not enough for me to disregard the book as a favorite). ( )