The Wind in the Willows The Wind in the Willows The Wind in the Willows is a children's novel by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow-moving and fast-paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animals in a pastoral version of Edwardian England. The novel is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality and camaraderie, and celebrated for its evocation of the nature of the Thames Valley. In 1908, Grahame retired from his position as secretary of the Bank of England. He moved back to Berkshire, where he had lived as a child, and spent his time by the River Thames doing much as
Scottish literature in the eighteenth century that they were being read, particularly by women and students in Scotland. Scotland and Scottish authors made a modest contribution to this early development. About forty full length prose books were printed in Scotland before 1800. One of the earliest was the anonymously authored "Select Collection of Oriental Tales" (1776). As well as being a poet, essayist, satirist and playwright, Tobias Smollett is best known for his picaresque novels, such as "The Adventures of Roderick Random" (1748) and "The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle" (1751) for which he is often seen as Scotland's first novelist. His most influential novel was his