EDITH Nesbit, author of the famous children’s book The Railway Children, makes an appearance at Y Tabernacle, Machynlleth on Friday, in a new play by Pembrokeshire author Derek Webb.

Called The Railway Children Lady, the part of Edith Nesbit is brought vividly to the stage by actress Eloise Williams who has dozens of TV and stage appearances to her credit, including playing Dylan Thomas’ wife Caitlin.

Prolific novelist and poet, and co-founder of the Fabian Society with her husband Hubert Bland, Edith Nesbit (below) was to the world at large a figure of conventional if progressive tastes.

The people in her life read like a who’s who of Victorian and Edwardian society: Eleanor Marx, Annie Besant, Emmeline Pankhurst, H G Wells, Sydney and Beatrice Webb and Noel Coward were just a few of the notable personalities she numbered among her friends.

But, while forever remembered as the author of The Railway Children and a host of other children’s books, she was testimony to the maxim that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

The Railway Children Lady is on Friday at 7.30pm.