Mr Toad's Wedding

by Martin Lake

The wedding antics of Toad are told in this sequel with a measure of humour, particularly wit and farce, strongly reminiscent of Grahame's balance of humour in the original. Nigel McMorris, Chair, The Kenneth Grahame Society. In 2008 the Kenneth Grahame Society held a short story competition to write a short story in the style of The Wind in the Willows. Writers from around the world entered the competition. 'Mr Toad's Wedding' won first prize.It tells the story of how Mr Toad lost his heart and almost lost his friends because of it. Martin Lake writes about the original much-loved characters from The Wind in the Willows and adds entertaining new the easily flummoxed parson, Natalia Natterjack, the amphibian who won Mr Toad's heart and Chevalier Vicomte Tallyrand de Toad, the cousin even more bumptious than Mr Toad.Most memorable of all is Mother-in-Law The huge shadow of Mother-in-Law Natterjack towered above Toad. He visibly quailed. She was a head taller than her daughter but in girth four times her size. The warts upon her stupendous head had long multiplied past the two or three which were considered comely for female toads, studding every part of her face so that her complexion resembled a pineapple. Her huge eyes were a deep yellow, as though they had sat in her head too long over the summer and were beginning to turn stagnant. She opened her mouth and a long, leathery tongue lolled out and wetted her face. She turned to Toad and her eyes widened in horror. "A Common Toad," she declaimed. "I had not realised you were a Common Toad."

157 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 23, 2011

About the author

Hello, I'm Martin Lake. I've been writing fiction since the age of eleven when our inventive English teacher Mr Johnson asked us to imagine that we were a Guy on a Guy Fawkes bonfire. I discovered the thrill of words and character.

My favourite authors when I was young were historical novelists like Rosemary Sutcliff and Henry Treece and a galaxy of science fiction writers. Later on I discovered the Flashman novels by George McDonald Fraser which I still consider the best of historical fiction.

I studied English Literature and History at UEA.

I have written all my life and had my first success with another story about 5th November, 'The Guy Fawkes Contest.' This was broadcast on radio and I spent more than my fee on celebrating my success.

Then one morning; revelation. I love writing and I love history. I decided to combine the two and wrote a novel about the Elizabethan spy network. There was some interest in this from publishers but not enough and it languishes still in a drawer.

I had a bad accident and could no longer drive nor turn over a paper-back book without dropping it and having to ask my wife to pick it up. My wife bought me an e-reader and shortly afterwards I discovered that I could self-publish my novels.

That was it. My life-long ambition was about to take off.

I have a series of novels set in the years following the Norman Invasion of England: The Flame of Resistance, Triumph and Catastrophe, Blood of Ironside and In Search of Glory.

I have also written four novels about the Viking Invasions of England: Wolves of War, To the Death, Land of Blood and Water and Blood Enemy.

Outcasts is about the fall of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade.

ALove Most Dangerous and the sequel Very Like a Queen tell the tale of Alice Petherton, a mistress of King Henry VIII.

I have four World War Two novels: Cry of the Heart and Ties of the Heart and Brave, Bold Spirit and The Turn of the Tide.

You can find my blog at martinlakewriting.wordpress.com

Twitter @martinlake14.

Email: martinlake14@gmail.com

Reviews

[Martin Lake]

The winning entry of the Kenneth Grahame Society's Competition for a sequel to The Wind in the Willows.