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The Willows at Christmas
 
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The Willows at Christmas (Hardcover)

by William Horwood (Author, Illustrator), Patrick Benson (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; 1st edition (18 Oct 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0002256045
  • ISBN-13: 978-0002256049
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 100,531 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

"Water?" cried Toad, turning and turning about in his distress. "What can water do against the awful might of Mrs Ffleshe? Niagara Falls would not trouble her nor a regiment of Hussars subdue her! Arsenic would be as ambrosia to such a one as she, and a stake in the heart would merely be taken as encouragement."
It's coming up to Christmas on the River Bank, and that domesticated culinary supremo, Mr. Mole of Mole End is disturbed by the absence of anything resembling festive spirit in the environs. He's sure that there's a deep dark reason behind the decision of his friends Ratty, Badger, Otter and the aristocratic Toad of Toad Hall to turn down his invitation for Christmas at Mole End.

He's almost right. "It" is a shallow, plump reason--Mrs Ffleshe, Toad's tyrannical and thoroughly imposed Christmas house guest, who casts her terrible shadow over Toad Hall, the Riverbank and the Village, forcing animals and humans alike into a state of misery from which only the vicious and untrustworthy weasels and stoats benefit.

The Willows at Christmas is the tale of the Mole's heroic fight, against the odds, for a merry Christmas, in which he's valiantly assisted by the other River bankers, Toad's dedicated and resourceful housekeeper Mrs Bugle, and a selection of downtrodden villagers. Lots of nastiness,(including an extraordinary variety of torture instruments and a generous range of mother-in-law jokes), lots of inventiveness (see extraordinary variety of torture instruments again) and ultimately redemptive. Gorgeously illustrated (including full-page colour pix) by Patrick Benson, this is holiday reading for the young- and-nostalgic at heart. --Lisa Gee

Synopsis

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

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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Festive Treat, 12 Jan 2009
This is a tremendously enjoyable book. It is surely an absolute delight for all the many fans of the original classic book by Kenneth Grahame which has remained in print for over 100 years. This particular sequel was written after William Horwood's critically acclaimed 'Willows' trilogy and appeared in print in 1999. It is set after Grahame's immortal tome but before Horwood's first sequel which was 'The Willows in Winter'. This latest book has much in common with the trilogy but there are some differences as well. Like the others, it is illustrated by Patrick Benson but there are no illustrated endpapers which play a small but insightful part in the Willows trilogy; however, there is the bonus of 7 magnificent colour plates by Benson who before collaborating with Horwood was best known for illustrating Roald Dahl's final book, 'The Minpins'.
This magnificent book is a slightly different size to the other books but the length is the same and it has Horwood's standard 12 chapters which is his regulation length for a Willows book as it matches the length of Grahame's original.
The plot consists of Toad having to put up with an insufferably rude house guest but when Mole hatches a plan with Ratty, Badger and Otter to 'rescue' Toad, events take an unfortunate turn and Christmas spirit appears to be in short supply on the Riverbank. This is an ideal book to read by an open fire, accompanied by crumpets dripping with golden butter, the laughter of friends and a generous glass of port or a piping hot cup of tea and a sizeable wedge of stilton and some of Otter's water biscuits and Mole's mince pies. A meal such as that would be as thoroughly recommended as this exceptional book which should be on every bookcase.
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0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Not a fan!, 1 Dec 2008
By Lindsey Lawrence "Gamegirlatheart" (Neath, south wales) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I love the original wind in the willows as the characters are full of life and the adventures are fun. I bought this book believing it to be something else, but since it had the wind in the willows tag, i wante to give it a try. I'm on the third chapter and have stopped reading. There are some colour pictures which are beautiful, but the story (or what i have read of it) is boring. I found it a struggle to read through the second chapter, and when i did finish it, i was gla to do so. This is the first christmas book i haven't managed to read and i'm disapointed. If you want a festive willows tale, read chapters three to five, where there is more excitment and warmth than this book put together. A very disapointing read. (By the way, at the moment (01/12/08) the book has rocketed to nearly 8 times what i paid for it, including p+p!)
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