Wind in the Willows Synopsis
Kenneth Grahame's favourite children's classic, The Wind in the Willows, follows the adventures of unlikely friends Toad, Ratty, Mole and Badger, brought to life with illustrations in the delightful, vintage style of Anne Grahame Johnstone.
About This Edition
About Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh, Scotland but in early childhood, after being orphaned, moved to live with his grandmother on the banks of the River Thames in southern England. He was an outstanding pupil at St Edward's School in Oxford and wanted to attend Oxford University but was not allowed to do so by his guardian on grounds of cost. Instead he was sent to work at the Bank of England in 1879, and rose through the ranks until retiring as its Secretary in 1908 due to ill health. In addition to ill health, Grahame's retirement was precipitated in 1903 by a strange, possibly political, shooting incident at the bank. Grahame was shot at three times, all of them missed. Grahame's marriage to Elspeth Thomson was an unhappy one. They had only one child, a boy named Alastair, who was born blind in one eye and was plagued by health problems throughout his short life. Alastair eventually committed suicide on a railway track while an undergraduate at Oxford University, two days before his 20th birthday on 7 May, 1920. Out of respect for Kenneth Grahame, Alastair's demise was recorded as an accidental death. Kenneth Grahame died in Pangbourne, Berkshire in 1932.
More About Kenneth Grahame
