Listen free for 30 days
-
The Psammead Trilogy
- Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Story of the Amulet
- Narrated by: Cathy Dobson
- Series: The Psammead Trilogy, Book 1-3
- Length: 21 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Classics
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £49.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Four Children and It
- By: Jacqueline Wilson
- Narrated by: Jacqueline Wilson
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rosalind and Robbie don't want to spend the summer stuck in their dad's new house with irritating Smash and her glamorous mum. Dad's biggest wish is for everyone to get along. So when he suggests a picnic in nearby Oxshott woods, the children grudgingly agree. That afternoon, in a golden sandpit, Rosalind makes a wish of her own and something extraordinary happens.
-
-
Four children and it
- By Mrs Y Lewington on 08-05-17
-
The Story of the Amulet
- By: E. Nesbit
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This text centers around the purchase of an ancient amulet that can grant a family's heart's desire - the return of their parents - but which first sets them on a journey through time to ancient Babylon, Egypt, and Atlantis. Anna Bentinck's engaging reading captures the excitement and tension of the text.
-
The Railway Children
- By: E. Nesbit
- Narrated by: Eve Karpf, Delia Paton
- Length: 2 hrs and 19 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Roberta, Peter and Phyllis's father is arrested for a crime he did not commit and they have to start a new life in the country, they fear the happy times are gone forever. Little do they expect the exciting adventures and the new friends that await them.
-
The Magic World
- By: Edith Nesbit
- Narrated by: Johanna Ward
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These magical stories contain some of the best things ever written in the realm of fairy tales. Included are the "Cathood of Maurice"; the story of Kenneth, who is turned into a fish and has to be caught before he can transform back into a boy; and of Amabel, who opens the wardrobe and discovers inside an enormous railway-station. There are also stories set in fairy tale lands inhabited by kings and queens, princes and princesses who have to outwit wicked fairies and evil magicians. A favorite is the tale of Princess Belinda, who was condemned to be ugly during the week and beautiful on Sundays.
-
-
Great individual short stories with each chapter.
- By Wendy A-R on 14-04-22
-
New Treasure Seekers
- By: E. Nesbit
- Narrated by: Teresa Gallagher
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This classic children's tale brings back the much-loved characters of Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel and H.O. Bastable as they stumble into yet more comic adventures. Teresa Gallagher read the previous two books in this highly praised series and returns to recount more japes in her colourful array of children's voices.
-
Four Children and It
- By: Jacqueline Wilson
- Narrated by: Jacqueline Wilson
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rosalind and Robbie don't want to spend the summer stuck in their dad's new house with irritating Smash and her glamorous mum. Dad's biggest wish is for everyone to get along. So when he suggests a picnic in nearby Oxshott woods, the children grudgingly agree. That afternoon, in a golden sandpit, Rosalind makes a wish of her own and something extraordinary happens.
-
-
Four children and it
- By Mrs Y Lewington on 08-05-17
-
The Story of the Amulet
- By: E. Nesbit
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This text centers around the purchase of an ancient amulet that can grant a family's heart's desire - the return of their parents - but which first sets them on a journey through time to ancient Babylon, Egypt, and Atlantis. Anna Bentinck's engaging reading captures the excitement and tension of the text.
-
The Railway Children
- By: E. Nesbit
- Narrated by: Eve Karpf, Delia Paton
- Length: 2 hrs and 19 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Roberta, Peter and Phyllis's father is arrested for a crime he did not commit and they have to start a new life in the country, they fear the happy times are gone forever. Little do they expect the exciting adventures and the new friends that await them.
-
The Magic World
- By: Edith Nesbit
- Narrated by: Johanna Ward
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These magical stories contain some of the best things ever written in the realm of fairy tales. Included are the "Cathood of Maurice"; the story of Kenneth, who is turned into a fish and has to be caught before he can transform back into a boy; and of Amabel, who opens the wardrobe and discovers inside an enormous railway-station. There are also stories set in fairy tale lands inhabited by kings and queens, princes and princesses who have to outwit wicked fairies and evil magicians. A favorite is the tale of Princess Belinda, who was condemned to be ugly during the week and beautiful on Sundays.
-
-
Great individual short stories with each chapter.
- By Wendy A-R on 14-04-22
-
New Treasure Seekers
- By: E. Nesbit
- Narrated by: Teresa Gallagher
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This classic children's tale brings back the much-loved characters of Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel and H.O. Bastable as they stumble into yet more comic adventures. Teresa Gallagher read the previous two books in this highly praised series and returns to recount more japes in her colourful array of children's voices.
-
The Lark
- By: E. Nesbit
- Narrated by: Anne Hancock
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Orphaned cousins Jane and Lucilla, both 19, receive the exciting news that their guardian is at last allowing them to leave boarding school. But their rosy future is thwarted when they find he has made some bad investments and fled, leaving them with a cottage in the English countryside and a modest bank account.
-
Swallows and Amazons
- Swallows and Amazons Series, Book 1
- By: Arthur Ransome
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For anyone who loves sailing and adventure, Arthur Ransome's classic Swallows and Amazons series stands alone. Originally published over a half-century ago, the twelve books are still eagerly read by children and adults alike – by all those captivated by the world of adventure and imagination. Such longevity is not only due to Ransome’s unparalleled gift of storytelling, but also his championing of qualities such as independence and initiative; virtues that appeal to every generation, whether young or old.
-
-
Nostalgic children's adventures
- By Lou on 27-01-14
-
The Enchanted Castle
- By: E. Nesbit
- Narrated by: Virginia Leishman
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jerry, Jimmy, and Kathleen can’t go home for their school holiday because their cousin is sick with measles there. Instead, they stay at Kathleen’s school with the French teacher. One morning, they set out to find adventure. Instead, they find an enchanted place - and magic, too! Walking through a nearby forest, they discover an enormous mansion, where a girl lies asleep in the garden. Although she pretends to be an enchanted princess, she is Mabel, the housekeeper’s niece. But she has a ring that really is magical. It can make the wearer invisible and grant wishes.
-
-
Enjoyable
- By Seagull on 05-09-18
-
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
- By: Ian Fleming
- Narrated by: David Tennant
- Length: 2 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Crackpot is what everybody calls the Pott family. So when they go to buy a new car and come back with a wreck, nobody is surprised. Except for the Potts themselves. First, the car has a name. And she tells them what it is. Then they find that she can fly... and swim... Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a car on a mission to stop a criminal gang in its tracks and she is taking the Potts with her! Jump into the world s most loved magical car, for her first adventure ever!
-
-
Loved by my son
- By E. Parke on 01-12-15
-
The Railway Children
- (A Puffin Book)
- By: E. Nesbit
- Narrated by: Jenny Agutter
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Father is taken away unexpectedly, Roberta, Peter, Phyllis and their mother have to leave their comfortable life in London to go and live in a small cottage in the country. The children seek solace in the nearby railway station and make friends with Perks the Porter and the Station Master himself. Each day, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis run down the field to the railway track and wave at the passing London train, sending their love to Father. Little do they know that the kindly old gentleman passenger who waves back holds the key to their father's disappearance.
-
-
Classic
- By Spyro on 03-08-18
-
Five Children and It (BBC Children's Classics)
- By: E Nesbit
- Narrated by: Terry Molloy, Julia McKenzie, Simon Carter
- Length: 1 hr and 27 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Julia McKenzie, Simon Carter and Terry Molloy star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation. On a hot, Edwardian summer's day, five children are granted a series of wishes by a strange creature they find.
-
-
Very Good
- By Flint on 29-12-17
-
The Animals of Farthing Wood
- By: Colin Dann
- Narrated by: Paul Whitehouse, Esther Coles
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Farthing Wood is being bulldozed and a drought means the animals no longer have anywhere to live or drink. Fox, Badger, Toad, Tawny Owl, Mole and the other animals band together and leave their ancestral home and set off to move to a far-away nature reserve. Their journey is full of adventure and fraught with disasters: a fire, a storm, a treacherous river crossing and a hunt. The animals must unite in adversity and in doing so they learn about each other’s habits and limitations.
-
-
The lady narrator....
- By Jon on 23-04-19
-
The Children of Green Knowe
- By: Lucy M. Boston
- Narrated by: William Franklyn
- Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'What if my great-grandmother is a witch!' thought Tolly, as he journeyed by train across the waterlogged countryside towards his great-grandmother's house. She wasn't a witch, but both she and her old house, Green Knowe, were full of a very special kind of magic. And Green Knowe turned out not to be the lonely place Tolly had imagined it to be. There were other children living in the house - children who had been happy there centuries before....
-
-
Needs a new narrator
- By Roses on 05-12-13
-
The Polar Bear Explorers' Club
- The Polar Bear Explorers' Club, Book 1
- By: Alex Bell
- Narrated by: Dan Bottomley
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Join Stella Starflake Pearl and her three fellow explorers as they trek across the snowy Icelands and come face-to-face with frost fairies, snow queens, outlaw hideouts, unicorns, pygmy dinosaurs and carnivorous cabbages.... When Stella and three other junior explorers get separated from their expedition, will they be able to cross the frozen wilderness and live to tell the tale?
-
-
Read far to fast.
- By richard on 18-12-18
-
The Green Knowe Chronicles, Books 1-3
- By: L. M. Boston
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here are books 1, 2, and 3 in L. M. Boston's thrilling and chilling tales of Green Knowe, a haunted manor deep in an overgrown garden in the English countryside, which have been entertaining audiences for half a century!
-
-
Historical children's stories
- By Kindle Customer on 07-09-20
-
A Girl of the Limberlost
- By: Gene Stratton-Porter
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elnora Comstock lives with her widowed mother at the edge of Limberlost Swamp. Her mother is harsh and critical of her daughter, but Elnora is a loving girl who befriends all creatures. She is especially drawn to the beautiful moths that flutter through the trees in Limberlost. Although Elnora longs to go to high school, she has no money to pay for tuition and books. When her cruel mother refuses to help, all seems lost, until Elnora learns she can sell the rare insects she collects. Still, her journey through high school and college will be full of challenges - and surprises.
-
-
Great listen!
- By Karolina on 19-09-19
-
Caddie Woodlawn
- By: Carol Ryrie Brink
- Narrated by: Roslyn Alexander
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No one would accuse 11-year-old Caddie Woodlawn of being dainty and ladylike. In spite of her mother’s best efforts, Caddie is as wild as the wind, playing freely and rambunctiously with her two brothers in the Wisconsin backwoods. There are rafts to build and trees to climb and pranks to play. Caddie especially likes to watch her friend Indian John build birchbark canoes at the river. Every day seems wide with possibility - as wide as the frontier. But living on the edge of civilization has its risks, too....
Summary
Edith Nesbit was to children in the early 20th century what J.K. Rowling is to today's young generation. Magic, mythical creatures, time travel, charms, words of power... Nesbit's stories have it all.
This recording is the complete collection of Edith Nesbit's Psammead series, comprising three captivating stories:
Five Children and It.The story begins when a group of five children - Robert, Anthea, Cyril, Jane, and their baby brother, the Lamb - move from London to the countryside of Kent. While playing in a gravel pit, they discover a rather grumpy, ugly and occasionally malevolent sand-fairy known as the Psammead who is compelled to grant one wish of theirs per day. The effects of each wish last until sundown. All the wishes granted to the children go hilariously wrong. When they wish to be beautiful, nobody recognises them and they are shut out of the house. When they wish to be rich, they get a stack of gold coins but nobody will take them. When they wish for wings they find themselves stuck on a tall tower at sunset. When they wish that their baby brother was older, he turns into a grown-up and bosses them about. When Robert wishes he was bigger than the baker's boy (who has beaten him in a scrap) he becomes eleven feet tall. There are many more adventures... but you will need to listen and find out for yourselves....
The Phoenix and the Carpet. This is the second story about Robert, Anthea, Cyril, Jane, and their baby brother, the Lamb - who live in London. One day their mother buys a new carpet for the nursery which mysteriously contains a stone egg. When the egg falls into the fire by accident, nobody can possibly imagine what adventures will be unleashed. The egg hatches the Phoenix who reveals that the carpet is in fact a magic wishing carpet, which will take the children on a rollercoaster ride of adventures, scrapes and mishaps. They end up stuck inside a tunnel with buried treasure, on a sunny Southern shore where their cook is made Queen of the Island, having tea with the Rania in India, and even when they are at home in Camden town they mysteriously and unexpectedly become the owners of an unfeasibly large number of cats.
The Story of the Amulet. The magic Psammead is back! This time the four children are stuck in London for the Summer, when they come across the Psammead (or wish-giving sand-fairy), imprisoned in a pet shop. They manage to free him, and he tells them where they can get hold of a magic amulet which will bring them their hearts' desire. Unfortunately when the amulet is secured, it is incomplete. They and the Psammead must travel back into ancient history to see the part of the amulet which was lost. The children experience one breathtaking adventure after another in Babylon, Egypt, the lost city of Atlantis, Tyre...
More from the same
What listeners say about The Psammead Trilogy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- K Bright
- 06-03-15
Enjoyable
I enjoyed this trilogy. Only decided to buy this as I'd purchased Five Children on the Western Front (2014) and in a review it was deemed best to know the original story. At times the narrator stumbles over a word or two and at times you can hear her turn the pages.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chris Lilly
- 29-01-15
Cornerstone of Children's Literature
This is a fine, slightly off-kilter performance of a fine, slightly off-kilter set of books. Cathy Dobson has a very warm and confiding style, with an old fashioned quality that fits the Edwardian stories. She also reads with a strange catch in her voice, a little hesitation that was at first irritating, but became very engaging. And what tremendous stories! Constantly surprising, constantly inventive, constantly forcing its audience to question, without ever being preachy - whenever there's the possibility of preaching, they remember it's been a long time since dinner, and scoot off home for mutton fritters(!?!). The Lamb, and the petting of the Lamb, is nauseating, but the story with the grown-up Lamb recontextualises even that character.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lucy
- 25-11-19
fantastic
loved every bit of these three stories (the first and last are the best though)
the narrator perfectly matched the tone and language of the time.
I'll never be too old for these books as the childlike imagination of the early 1900's give me the warm fizzles lol,
a very easy listen , would 100% recommend
10/10
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mrs A
- 05-04-16
terrible narration!
love these tales, but the narration was just too much to cope with. very poor!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Les Dor
- 11-02-20
dated
it is an old book with old ways of thinking got bored very quickly with victorian values lol
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- mumstheword
- 10-06-16
Love this story
I love these story's they are so fun and imaginative so really any one could listen to them.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- donna appleby
- 25-12-21
cannot bear the narration
the inflection of the narrator's voice is intolerable .I adore E Nesbit but simply cannot listen to this version.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael Hirst
- 26-08-21
Ruined by the performance
For some reason Cathy Dobson, who has a decent speaking voice uses the upward inflection constantly, I was really looking forward to revisiting these books, which I so enjoyed in childhood, but the performance really spoiled this for me.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- jaspersu
- 06-08-15
Quaint
The stories definitly feel over a century old, and that's part of the fun of reading it now.
I chose this because The Phoenix and the Carpet is read by a character in another book that I love. That character is reading aloud to children, but stops. I always wondered if the children were left hanging, but now I know that the books are episodic, so just reading to the end of a chapter would be satisfying.
Cathy Dobson's narration is nice. It isn't always easy to tell one child character's voice from the next, but it almost doesn't matter. They do sound different from the adults, the magic creatures and the baby, Lamb.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Laeta
- 10-06-19
excellent for family road trip w/ 1 caution
If you wouldn't let your kids read Harry Potter then you probably would not feel comfortable with this series. However it is a great series set in early 1900's England, with fantasy adventures similar to Chronicles of Narnia.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- RR
- 29-05-18
Wonderful story with fantastic narrating
The reader did a wonderful job bringing characters to life in this series. My children, ages 5, 7, and 8 all loved these books, as did I! The British narrator helped bring the language to life, especially words/terms we weren’t familiar with due to culture/time it was written. A great story with all kinds of great discussion topics.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Mary in SC
- 20-03-17
A Truly Lovely Story!
My 9 year old daughter and I have truly loved listening to this enchanting and wonderful story! So beautifully narrated, too!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Red
- 21-08-18
good but kind of racist
worth it if you like the characters , although the middle book w the Phoenix is very strange and has very little plot
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Lilith
- 23-03-18
Perfect escape
This was a wonderful listen!! & wonderfully performed. Perfect accompaniment for packing up to move! Would have loved to have a magic carpet & a psammead to help me!!! & in many ways I did.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Carmen M Spruill
- 22-10-16
magical
great read. feeds the imagination for young and not so young. great aloud read. fun
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Lisa
- 13-10-17
Not my cup of tea
This is a difficult story to read aloud...I know, I tried. So, we purchased this trilogy. The story doesn't get better, despite E. Nesbit being one of the English speaking world's most notable children's authors of all time. In fact, the story get so convoluted at several points my husband asked what kind of morbid tale I was allowing our children to listen to. We were all glad when it was over...even the children, I learned after the fact.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Beleg
- 09-12-20
It’s the best book ever
I hope you can make more other books
like this one. I hope you can
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- L. Pierce
- 26-10-20
We enjoyed all three stories
We enjoyed all three stories. The Phoenix and the Carpet was the children's favorite. Glad to have gotten the trilogy.