About the author
Kenneth Grahame (1859–1932) first wrote about children
and then for them, becoming one of the best-loved
authors of children’s literature in English, and providing
the world with one of the classic children’s stories of all
time, The Wind in the Willows.
How did Grahame acquire his gift? Perhaps it came from
his own difficult childhood, which saw him orphaned at
an early age. Perhaps it came from his own experiences
as a father, telling stories to his son, Alistair. The Wind in
the Willows is, apparently, a reconstruction of the actual
bedtime stories he shared with his son.
He certainly loved children, calling them ‘the only really
living people’. In other respects, too, he wrote about what
he loved. Although he was born in Scotland, he moved to
Berkshire to live with his grandmother after the death of
his parents, and came to love the countryside, especially
the River Thames. He retired there after ill-health forced
him to retire from his full time job, as Secretary at the
Bank of England in 1907. He became increasingly
reclusive after the tragic death of his son, Alistair, at the
age of just 20. Kenneth Grahame died in Pangbourne on
the Thames on 6th July 1932.