Dear reader,
It was such a treat to find ourselves lost in the world of The Wind in the Willows and to delve into the bucolic adventures of Mole, Ratty, Toad and Badger.
We’ve loved hearing from those of you that have been inspired to re-read the book after the episode, whatever age you are now! Or, if like Tabby, you’ve tended to avoid stories about anthropomorphic animals, we hope this has swayed you enough to give the book a chance. (Just don’t watch that 1996 film adaptation... Never mind Steve Coogan as a nervous Mole, Antony Sher put in an absolutely terrifying performance as Chief Weasel.)
Below you’ll find recommendations, polls, and talking points, as well as your notes on A Game of Thrones.
But given this week’s subject matter, we thought we’d start with our answers to a message from Book Club listener, Joana, whose 12-year-old son dreams of being a “historian, palaeontologist, history teacher,” sparked by his love of the Horrible Histories series.
A fan of Dominic’s book Fury of the Vikings, as well as Harry Potter, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Hunger Games, the family are now “hitting a bit of a wall” finding options that aren’t too childish or too grown-up. Joana asks: “Are there any books or series you would recommend for a kid who loves rich history and epic fantasy, but needs that perfect middle-ground ‘sweet spot’ for reading level and tone?”
Here are our thoughts…
Dominic
The Eagle of the Ninth, Rosemary Sutcliff: An outstanding historical novel set in Roman Britain about the search for the missing Ninth Legion. I read it on my French exchange and absolutely loved it.
Over Sea, Under Stone, Susan Cooper: This is the first book in The Dark is Rising Sequence, one of THE great fantasy series. It’s set in Cornwall in the 1970s or so, but then widens out to encompass Merlin, the Holy Grail and so much more. Brilliant.
The Winter King, Bernard Cornwell: Absolutely fantastic retelling of the Arthurian myths – gritty and realistic but perfectly pitched for a 12-year-old. I know Tabby loves this one too.
Tabby
Wolf Brother, Michelle Paver: It tells the story of Torak, a 12-year-old boy who loses his father and forms an unlikely bond with an orphaned wolf pup in a reimagined middle stone age. It's magical, dark, and gritty. Torak is hunted by a demon bear, and learns of the other human clans that populate his world. I was obsessed with the whole series.
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak: I read this when I was 12, and remember spending almost a whole day curled on the sofa, refusing to come to lunch so I could finish it. It has a very special place in my heart to this day. It's about a young girl in Germany while the Nazis are in power. She is taught to read by her foster father, whom she loves, and falls in love with books. But gradually, she learns of the cruel nature of the time she is living through, after discovering that her father is harbouring a Jewish man on the run from the Nazis.
How would you answer this same question? Write to us at [email protected] and we’ll share some answers here next week.
And as a bonus, here are the pictures of Tabby’s father’s 1959 edition of The Wind in the Willows, mentioned on the show.
Now onto your Book Notes…
Until next time,
Tabby and Dominic
If you enjoyed The Wind in the Willows
Several of our recommendations this week come from Dominic and Tabby, and the books they read while researching the episode.
📚 The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading by Sam Leith – An exploration of the children’s literary canon including analysis of The Wind in the Willows.
📚 Secret Gardens: A Study of the Golden Age of Children's Literature by Humphrey Carpenter – This piece of criticism and biography looks at the ‘golden age’ from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to Winnie-the-Pooh, and considers their interaction with the culture of the time.
📚 Eternal Boy: The Life of Kenneth Grahame by Matthew Dennison – The key biography about the life of the escapist author and how he remained a child at heart.
📚 The Golden Age and Dream Days by Kenneth Grahame – Considered the first books by the author, which were popular in America, especially with President Theodore Roosevelt.
📚 Billy Bunter’s Postal Order by Frank Richards – Beloved by Dominic, if you enjoyed spending time with Mr Toad, you’ll likely have fun reading these misadventures of the naughty titular schoolboy.
🌳 Inspired by the woodland scenes? Enjoy a day trip to Cookham Dean, the Berkshire village that inspired Grahame. The National Trust have even drawn up a route that takes in his boyhood home.
We need your vote
Two polls to weigh in on, starting here with: Which character is each presenter most like? Tabby said Dominic was Ratty, while Dominic said “Rat and Mole are fighting for possession” of Tabby. What do you think?
Who is Dominic? Click to vote – and if you leave an extra comment, include your name so we can include your thoughts in Reviewers' Corner
Notes on… The Wind in the Willows
If you’ve never before considered a children’s story for your book club, then it’s worth making an exception for The Wind in the Willows.
As the presenters noted, even Grahame wasn’t sure who this novel was aimed at. Perhaps instead of being a weakness, it’s a sign the story is for all ages.
Here are some talking points, put together by Rhiannon.
Historian Gillian Avery said The Wind in the Willows is an “essential element of English childhood, part of the background of the reading adult, a book whose importance is unquestioned”.
Do you agree? Discuss when you first discovered The Wind in the Willows and what your impressions were. Re-reading as an adult, how did your perspective differ?
Dominic says: “The puzzle is, for whom is the book intended? Grown-up readers will find it monotonous and elusive. Children will hope in vain for more fun.” Who is this for?
Talking about writers of children’s fiction, critic Sam Leith says: “Often they're writing from a wound, whether a wound sustained in childhood or the wound of having had to leave it behind in the first place.”
Share the podcast with your group and tell them about the author’s difficult life and its influence on the story. Tabby notes it’s a book where “everyone always goes to bed well fed, cosy, and content”. How do you think growing up is portrayed in this book?
There are no parents or authority figures in the world of The Wind in the Willows – and barely any women. In writing to President Theodore Roosevelt (a huge fan of his writing) Grahame said it was a story “with no problems, no sex, no second meaning. It is only an expression of the very simplest joys of life.” In what other ways did you see the “real world” being rejected by the book?
However, Dominic adds: “[Children’s authors] create this sort of lost paradise, but the unhappiness somehow finds its way in, or finds a reflection. It's the tension between those two things that often gives these books their power.” Where did you see this in the plot?
The book can be viewed as an “Edwardian escapist fantasy”, says Dominic, produced in “an age when writers and artists are in constant revolt against what they see as kind of industrial urban modernity”.
What symbols of industrialisation did you see and how does Grahame rail against these? Explore Toad’s obsession with motor cars. Does he have traits of an addict?
The ending reflects an Edwardian “invasion fantasy” says Tabby. Dominic adds that it reads like the French Revolution, where “the sans-culottes have broken in, and they're helping themselves to the aristocrats’ wine cellar” (there are lots of fantastic French Revolution The Rest Is History podcasts if you’re interested to learn more). Discuss what other elements of Edwardian anxieties you noticed.
Critics have read this book as an allegory for Edwardian class politics – as Tabby notes, it’s been said “every Englishman is one of those characters”.
The presenters discussed how Mole is “very middle class” and Rat is “socially a cut above mole”. Badger is an “elderly aristocratic gentleman from an old family,” while Toad represents the “nouveau riche”.
The Wild Wood characters can even be read as the proletariat and social disorder. Do you agree with these assessments? Where else do you see the British class system play out? Are these British archetypes? Or are they relevant internationally too?President Roosevelt said he had come to accept the characters of The Wind in the Willows “as old friends”. Why do you think Grahame’s characters have become so ingrained in our childhoods and society?
The quote that says it all
“Home! That was what they meant, those caressing appeals, those soft touches wafted through the air, those invisible little hands pulling and tugging, all one way!”
Mole’s words crystallise the ultimate appeal of home over adventure that underlies The Wind in the Willows, Grahame’s ethos and the cosy warmth that has kept readers rapt for decades.
But what quote stayed with you? Email us at [email protected] and let us know.
Who should you give this to?
A homesick expat? A homebody who’ll find comfort in enjoying adventures on the page without leaving their room? Tell us, who would you share this book with?
Recommended Reads
We know that you have a lot of thoughts about what Dominic and Tabby should cover on the show. Instead, we’re taking recommendations here for your fellow Book Notes members. Send two or three sentences about your book of choice and we’ll feature as many as we can in future weeks… Email [email protected].
Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series is “highly recommended” for anyone “who loves epic fantasy,” says James, who’s read the entire 14-book series (twice).
If you’re counting down to our episode on Madeline Miller’s Circe, Stuart advises you check out Natalie Haynes’ Stone Blind. “Not only is the re-imagining of Medusa superb, I enjoyed seeing Perseus reduced to an arrogant and unpleasant monster,” he says.
Kia ora to Hilary, who suggests some New Zealand titles, especially Better the Blood by Michael Bennett, which she says “digs into the present day impact of colonisation in Aotearoa New Zealand in the form of a rollicking murder mystery come detective story.”
Reviewers’ Corner
We can’t wait to see your responses to The Wind in the Willows. Write in to [email protected] with ‘review’ in the subject line and tell us…
What childhood books bring you comfort?
Your memories of reading The Wind in the Willows and whether learning about Grahame’s life added to your depth of understanding of the book.
Here are some of our favourite notes from this week’s mailbox, including your thoughts on A Game of Thrones.
Your polls
We asked who should end up on the throne… Well, Tabby and Dominic, according to our audience, you’re both wrong.
Here’s who you, our Book Club community, suggested:
“Daenerys should be on the throne. She is the rightful heir,” Jacy said.
“Sansa! 100% should have been Sansa. So much growth over the series, suffered but not turned by it (she definitely sees through Dany), of the North...Sansa forever,” Helen said.
“Jon Snow ALL DAY LONG,” writes Amy.
There were many more brilliant entries, from Gendry, to Sansa to Dany (and even some Brans). But the majority said Jon Snow. You know nothing, HBO.
The winning score for the book overall was 9. Coracle calls it “delicious”. “Immersive,” says Judith. “Gripped,” writes Lizzy.
Others were less positive. “Overwritten," one audience member says. “Tedious,” writes Sue.
Narrative limitations
Barbara saw limitations in Martin’s third person narration. “There is little to no distinction in the narrative style/language that separates them from each other. Compared with other fantasy with multiple point of views (like The Witcher or Broken Earth series where every character really has a unique way of looking at the world and translating it to their narration), it always felt as false advertisement to me that GoT ended up as a poster series for an individual point of view,” she wrote.
“When the characters keep getting more and more scattered and their story lines more and more separate, my interest waned and I DNF-ed A Dance with Dragons fairly quickly… I enjoyed listening to your discussion though!”
Family (size) matters
Meg notes the four sibling trope running through both A Game of Thrones and Little Women. “I’m sure I could Google this, but why specifically four siblings?! Where did it first feature in literature and what are some other recommendations?” Book Club community – what do you think?
From Venezuela
Everyone on the team sends their love to Michelle, who wrote to us from Venezuela, recently devastated by two large earthquakes. “I found your book club these days and I just wanted to thank you because I have been listening to you both while being in the middle of volunteering at the donation centre in my university and your conversations about literature have brought a lot of comfort and a sense of normalcy to my life.”
Scoreboard
Book | Dominic’s Verdict | Tabby’s Verdict |
|---|---|---|
The Wind in the Willows | 10/10 | 8/10 |
A Game of Thrones | 8/10 | 8/10 |
Little Women | 7/10 | 5/10 |
The Code of the Woosters | 11/10 | 10/10 |
The Hunger Games | 6.5/10 | 7/10 |
Next on The Book Club
If you want to read ahead, here’s what’s coming up:
July 14: The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
July 21: Circe by Madeline Miller
July 28: The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
August 4: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
August 11: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
August 18: For Whom The Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway
August 25: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
September 1: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Keeping score
This week, Dominic gave The Wind in the Willows 10 out of 10 “Poop-poops!” 🐸 while Tabby settled on 8/10. What score would you have given it?
See you next week for The Leopard.
The Book Club Team
