When I was young a mysterious package arrived from my great grandmother. I opened it with hopeful expectations only to discover a rather tatty and very old book. She enclosed a small note saying this had been a family favorite and she hoped I enjoyed as much as my grandmother and mother had. Since my mother had neglected to tell me about any books she had enjoyed as a child I threw the book into the back of my bookshelf and ignored it for months.
A rainy winter, a bad cold and with nothing left to read I retrieved The House of Arden by Edith Nesbit and devoured it in a day. The delightful story concerned two children trying to restore the family fortune with a magical mole that takes them back in history. The book might have been dated but I loved the story and it still remains a family favorite. If I can get Scharnelle to stop snoring long enough to listen when I read it to her.