Eternal Boy

by Matthew Dennison

During the week Kenneth Grahame sat behind a mahogany desk as Secretary of the Bank of England; at the weekend he retired to the house in the country he shared with his fanciful wife Elspeth and fragile son Alistair and took lengthy walks along the Thames in Berkshire, ‘tempted… [by] the treasures of hedge and ditch; the rapt surprise of the first lords-and-ladies, the rustle of a field-mouse, the splash of a frog’

The result of these pastoral wanderings was The Wind in the Willows: an enduring classic of children’s literature; a cautionary tale for adult readers; a warning of the fragility of the English countryside; and an expression of fear at threatened social changes that, in the aftermath of the World War I, became reality. Like its remarkable author, it balances maverick tendencies with conservatism. Graham was an Edwardian pantheist whose work has a timeless appeal, an escapist whose withdrawal from reality took the form of time travel into his own past.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

272 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2018

About the author

Matthew Dennison is the author of five critically acclaimed works of non-fiction, including Behind the Mask: The Life of Vita Sackville-West, a Book of the Year in The Times, Spectator, Independent and Observer. He is a contributor to Country Life and lives in the United Kingdom.

Reviews

[Annamirabilis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read this book after seeing Kenneth Grahame's grave in Holywell Cemetery. It is also the grave of his son Alistair ('Mouse'), who predeceased his father. That fact intrigued me, so I found this biography of Grahame to find out more. Grahame's story is a very sad one, and told unsparingly but sympathetically by Dennison. There is much reference to Grahame's own work, and Dennison himself writes lyrically. Occasionally repetitive, the book certainly satisfied my curiosity to find out more about Kenneth Grahame and his life.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography of Kenneth Grahame of Wind in the Willows fame is absolutely fascinating. Although a hugely successful author in his lifetime, and still today, his childhood was marred by tragedy, alienation and lack of understanding and affection which left him forever harking back, in his lifestyle and imagination, to one particular childhood home that truly fed his soul in the absence of appropriate human relationships. This place, and the feelings it engendered in him, became the fantasy land he was ever seeking and is evident in the setting, homely houses and simple adventures of the animals in The Wind in the Willows.
Marriage didn't suit him and he shouldn't have done it. Adored son "Mouse" was often neglected by his dysfunctional parents who had never been nurtured themselves.
It's all a sad story, well told in this biography.
The charms of Rat, Mole and Toad's prelapsarian Riverbank will never seem quite so blythe again.

[Matt Short · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 3.5 to 3.75. Full of interesting detail and very easy / enjoyable to read, but feels rather slight on occasion (spends much more time on Grahame's early life than on The Wind in the Willows and near quarter of a century Grahame lived after publication).

[Pelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man that was depressing

[Paul Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aptly titled. An engaging biography of a man whose Wind in the Willows have afforded escapist delight to his many readers as its sentiments did for its author. A difficult childhood, denied university and shoe horned into a career he wouldn't have chosen Grahame made the most of it. Utterly unsuited to marriage we are made to suffer his excruciating courtship letters as he suffered the wrong marriage to the wrong person and the tragic life of their only son for whom neither mother nor father proved adequate parents; save for the delightful stories of the mole the rat the badger and the toad.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kenneth Grahame’s life was both fascinating and sad. The writer of The Wind In The Willows lost his mum at an early age, and subsequently saw his dad drift into alcoholism. Brought up by relatives, his dreams of college were thwarted by a practical and well-meaning uncle, who set him up for a successful but wholly unsuitable career in the Bank of England. An unhappy marriage and a son who apparently took his own life mean that life was little better in adult years, so he largely took refuge in childhood memories.

It’s an interesting story, but it’s not well told in this book. The writing style was excessively romantic for my liking, and the author lost me entirely in his treatment of Elspeth, Kenneth’s wife, who is dismissed here as a scheming type who drew Graeme into marriage largely against his will. There’s little evidence for this rather trite view, and it was the last straw for me in a book I was already struggling to enjoy.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This deserves a solid 3.5 stars. Decently written, but there's far too many quotations, which kept breaking up the flow. A good quote has its place - often no one can say it better than the source did themselves - but felt like Dennison relied too much on pulling bits from Grahame's own writings. Lots of repetition as well, so much so that occasionally I felt like I was reading a university essay where the student hasn't quite reached their word count yet.

Also, I really just wanted to give Grahame (and Elspeth) a swift kick up the backside.

[T P Kennedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not a bad though a slight biography. It's strongest in the early sections dealing his early life and early books. There's tantalisingly little detail later - the author focuses on his marriage but dismisses an attempt on his life in a single paragraph. The evolution of Wind in the Willow is dealt with but more detail would have been appreciated. It's like an introduction to his life but makes me wish for a more in depth biography.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an eye-opening experience. This biographer presents Kenneth Grahame's life as a tragedy, cheered only by his much loved works, The Golden Age, Dream Days and The Wind in the Willows. It is a stern lesson about poor productivity, and, perhaps, about the results of poor parenting.

[Jools · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking, brilliantly written and revelatory to me. I've been a fan of "Wind in the Willows" and "-The Reluctant Dragon" since childhood, but to u understand the desperate sadness fro which these stories came has added a poignancy to them I would never have know without reading this wonderful book.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating biography of Kenneth Grahame, have read The Wind in the Willows but knew little about the authors life, but found his life story rather sad.

[Jose Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma leitura muito interessante onde conhecemos a vida por detrás das obras que gostamos.
Muito bem escrito. Adorei.
(Preparação para uma releitura da obra "O Vento nos Salgueiros").