Toad, Mole, Ratty and Badger return once more in a new tale of the River Bank from the bestselling author of The Willows in Winter, Toad Triumphant and The Willows and Beyond. * The Tales of the Willows sequence -- in which William Horwood returned to the idyllic setting of The Wind in the Willows and brought back Kenneth Grahame's much-loved characters in three brand-new stories -- has been a remarkable success story. * It began in 1993, with the Sunday Times bestseller The Willows in Winter, which immediately caught the imagination of the reading public and was made into a full-length animated film. The series continued with Toad Triumphant in 1995 and The Willows and Beyond in 1996. * Now, in The Willows at Christmas, William Horwood has created a compelling new tale that takes place after the events in The Wind in the Willows but before The Willows in Winter. The twelve days of Christmas are fast approaching and Mole is planning to enjoy every one of them with his River Bank friends. So when the normally cheerful Mr Toad despairs at the arrival of Mrs Ffleshe, a quite impossibly rude house guest, Mole must do something about it. But the plan he hatches with Ratty, Badger and Otter to rescue Toad goes horribly wrong. With the prospect of Christmas in gaol and a trial for capital offences soon to follow, Mole will have to work hard if he is to salvage something of the Christmas spirit for his friends...'Lovers of The Wind in the Willows will feel at home and will laugh a lot with sheer pleasure.' The Times on The Willows in Winter 'The old friends are just as they always were.' Daily Telegraph on The Willows in Winter
There are 256 pages in this book. This book was published 1999 by HarperCollins Publishers .
Since the publication of The Willows in Winter William Horwood has received letters from hundreds of readers thanking him for recapturing the spirit of Kenneth Grahame's great work so faithfully. He is also the author of the two bestselling trilogies about the moles of Duncton Wood, and the Wolves of Time series. William Wise is the author of best-selling picture book Ten Sly Piranhas as well as other novels and non-fiction for adults and young adults. He lives in the USA. Patrick Benson is the internationally recognised illustrator of bestseller Owl Babies, Christopher Award-winner Mole and Baby Bird and The Minpins. Patrick lives in the Borders of Scotland.
This book contains the following story:
The Wind in the Willows
Mole is spring cleaning his home when Ratty persuades him that there is nothing so much fun as messing about on boats. The two set off In Ratty's row boat and picnic by the riverside, then spend days in Ratty's riverside home. One day they decide to visit Toad at Toad Hall. Toad persuades the two of them to join him in his lovely yellow caravan. All goes well until the caravan is knocked into the road by a passing motor car. Days pass and Mole tries and fails to persuade Ratty to take him to meet the elusive Badger, so he sets off on his own and gets lost in the Wild Wood. Ratty rescues him and they stay the night at Badger's House. Meanwhile Toad has become so obscessed with cars he'borrows' one from a courtyard and end up in prison. The jailer's daughter takes pity on him and helps him to escape dressed in her washerwoman's clothes. However whilst Toad has been in prison, stoats and weasels have taken over Toad Hall and in a final battle Badger, Ratty , Mole and Toad must eject them and reinstate Toad.
