The Willows and Beyond
by William Horwood
Tales of the Willows: Publication (3), Tales of the Willows: Chronological (4), Wind in the Willows (4)
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Continues the adventures of Toad, Mole, Rat, and Badger as they reminisce about their past escapades and prepare to turn over the River Bank to the next generation.Tags
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Spoiler alert! This was the end of Horwood's Willows books, in more ways than one. Not only does it mark the end of the Wild Wood, but he kills off all the characters! They are replaced with various offspring, and the end of the book seems to hint of some further stories, but basically you've just slain the entire cast of one the best loved books of all time. It was like watching Robinson Crusoe get killed and eaten by Friday. If I had any sense I'd get rid of it and just pretend it never happened.
Well, now I've read this last book of the Wind in the Willows series and feel a nice, cozy sense of closure-except the library didn't have Toad Triumphant. Funny thing is, yesterday I found it in the vintage children's books section of Half-Price Books! (Hardcover, with dust jacket, can I get a "Woo-HOo!"?)
Anyway, this book takes our dear friends all the way to the peaceful end and yet one feels the stories might continue, because their families do. One big surprise about 3/4 of the way through had me in tears (of happiness) and feeling rather sorry for myself that I wasn't some creature of the river bank myself. Sigh, none of Horwoods's books are 100% as wonderful as Kenneth Grahame's original, but they are darn near it I think. show more Definately worth reading show less
Anyway, this book takes our dear friends all the way to the peaceful end and yet one feels the stories might continue, because their families do. One big surprise about 3/4 of the way through had me in tears (of happiness) and feeling rather sorry for myself that I wasn't some creature of the river bank myself. Sigh, none of Horwoods's books are 100% as wonderful as Kenneth Grahame's original, but they are darn near it I think. show more Definately worth reading show less
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28+ Works 5,508 Members
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Is a (non-series) sequel to
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Willows and Beyond
- Original publication date
- 1996
- People/Characters
- Mr. Toad; Rat [The Wind in the Willows]; Mole [The Wind in the Willows]; Mr. Badger
- First words
- It was late September, and after a week of storms and rain, which had caused the River to rise, and the once-glorious vegetation along the River Bank to grow old and bedraggled, the sun started to show itself again.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Then they were gone, Mole and Toad, Badger and Rat, and Otter too, gone under the Iron Bridge and away upstream toward Lathbury Forest, heading home, there to find out all the wonders of what might await them in the future, and Beyond.
- Original language*
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Children's Books
- DDC/MDS
- 823.914 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English fiction 1900- 1901-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PZ7 .H7928 .W — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Juvenile belles lettres
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 229
- Popularity
- 140,317
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.75)
- Languages
- English, German, Russian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 12
- ASINs
- 3
