Martineau wrote a number of books during her illness, and a historical plaque marks this house. In 1841 she published a series of four novels for children, "The Playfellow", comprising "The Settlers at Home", "The Peasant and the Prince", "Feats on the Fiord", and "The Crofton Boys". In 1844 she published "Life in the Sickroom: Essays by an Invalid," an autobiographical reflection on invalidism. She wrote "Household Education" (1848), the handbook on the "proper" way to raise and educate children. Lastly, she began working on her autobiography. Completed much later, it included some hundred pages on this period. Notable visitors included Richard Cobden and Thomas and Jane Carlyle.