The Wind in the Willows

Kenneth Grahame's iconic "The Wind in the Willows" was first published in 1908 and has remained one of English literature's most beloved novels. Reading, hearing and rereading Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows has been a principal joy for me since my mother first read this book to me when I was about four years old. We still have that hardcover edition. I was the same age as Kenneth Grahame’s son when his father first created Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad, and told him these bedtime stories. I dedicate this audio book to my sweet mother, Linda, who introduced her children to great literature, including Wind In The Willows.

Kenneth Grahame first published Wind in the Willows in 1908. We will remember that our world looked very different in 1908. Argentina opened Teatro Colon in that year, the “finest opera house in the world,” to which Caruso, and later Callas would travel during the “summer season.” World War I was not yet on the horizon, or barely. We nostalgically portray the Edwardian period romantically. And indeed, Grahame captures this golden age of long summer afternoons and garden parties among the scenes and seasons of his precious novel. In the century leading up to the publication of Wind in the Willows, the British Empire had defeated Napoleon and the Pax Britannica endured and increased. In these past decades, Britain added 400 million people to her empire, and ten million square miles of land. England itself boasts only just over fifty thousand square miles. Think what that means.

Is Wind in the Willows a great children’s book? Or a serious allegory for adults? Or a novel containing some of the most sensuous prose in the English language? Since Wind in the Willows continues to captivate our imaginations perhaps the book’s power comes from its unique blend of all three of these qualities and more.

--Bob Attiyeh