Oh, the things you can find in a charity shop

 Check it out! "Oswald Bastable, and others" by E. Nesbit! First edition, 1905, poor condition but still intact!

I read The Story of the Treasure Seekers when I was very small (and felt jolly clever for working out that the narrator was Oswald before he told us), followed by the sequels and E. Nesbit's other major works, but I've never read these ones before, and I'm rediscovering the delights of an author who not only influenced so many other later works but was just about the only writer in history to put a character called Pridmore in a story. She was also a fine poet, which makes it all the more impressive that she was able to pen Noël's masterpieces...

 

I've read the first story, and will save the rest for my train journey tomorrow - I'm going down to London, for reasons I'll be allowed to tell you about in a week or so's time. The secret will be revealed at last, but it really won't be entirely worth waiting for, so I'm sorry for building it up like this.