Author: Kenneth Grahame
Grahame, Kenneth 18 59-1932 Children's author and essayist. Born in Edinburgh, Grahame went to live with his grandmother in Berkshire as a child after the death of his mother. After attending school in Oxford he was forced to join the Bank of England instead of going to university as he wished. After marriage in 1899 Grahamc took to telling stories to his young son Alastair, continued in a series of letters. These formed the basis for The Wind in the Willows (1908), which after several rejections came out to scant critical acclaim. Its fame quickly grew and the addition of illustrations by E. H. Shepard and then Arthur Rackham finally led to us present classic status. Grahame produced no further written work of substance, becoming something of a recluse after the suicide of his son at the age of 19.
