‘Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens’ is a novel by James Matthew Barrie, published in 1906, featuring the character he originated, Peter Pan. It tells the story of how Peter left his family as an infant, became a friend of fairies, and (re)learned to fly.
Although it features Barrie’s most famous character, Peter Pan, the relationship between ‘Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens ‘ and Barrie’s play ‘Peter Pan’ (or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up), is ambiguous. In some respects, Kensington Gardens is a prequel to the play: Peter Pan is only one week old in the novel, which recounts how Peter acquired some of the characteristics he has in the play, including the ability to fly and his friendship with fairies. However, the novel also suggests that Peter Pan will never age (making it impossible for him to become the boy-hero of the play), and the novel’s magic works differently to the play’s. The novel’s publication history is also complex. Although it was published after the success of Barrie’s play, its text is almost identical to a section of Barrie’s earlier novel ‘The Little White Bird’, which was published before the play. Most students of’ Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens’ have concluded that it is simply an alternative version of the most famous Peter Pan story.