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 nineteenth century Barrie (1860–1937), best known for his creation of Peter Pan, which helped develop the genre of fantasy. Also important in the development of fantasy was the work of George MacDonald (1824–1905) whose produced children's novels, including "The Princess and the Goblin" (1872) and "At the Back of the North Wind" (1872), realistic novels of Scottish life, but also "Phantastes: A Fairie Romance for Men and Women" (1858) and later "Lilith: A Romance" (1895), which would be an important influence on the work of both C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Scottish "national drama" emerged in the early 1800s,