When the rumor of an odd folklore from an artifact whispers its way through gothic, 19th century London, the infatuated and wealthy Willows are spurred to unravel its untamed secrets. Their haughty and romanticized personal obsessions unfold, unveiling many underlying truths about the dark perspectives of curiosity, the psychological and sociological human condition, and the strength of narcissistic egotism and opulent notoriety to remedy a broken spirit.

Mole, Ratty, Toad, and Badger are back for more rollicking adventures in this sequel to The Wind in the Willows. With lavish illustrations by Clint Young, Jacqueline Kelly masterfully evokes the magic of Kenneth Grahame's beloved children's classic and brings it to life for a whole new generation. A riveting tale of bravery, bravado, and hot-air ballooning!

How much can someone forget about a tragedy which occurred during childhood and how much haunts you for the rest of your life, as a heavy and dark shadow attached to your skin, to each breath of your exhalation, along the walked path? This is what Simon pretends to discover when he returns to the place where he spent his childhood, of which he keeps almost any memory. The old family manor called "The Home of the Willows" will open a door that, once opened, it cannot be closed again. The door of his lost memory. A door that should have been locked forever. He will discover a world of light and of darkness that cohabits with ours. A world plagued with wonderful creatures, but also with terrible beings that feed from the weakness of some human beings who can be much more horrifying than any monster living in a child ́s most gloomy nightmares.

Drooping lazily over waterways, shading gardens, guarding hedgerows—the willow tree is a poetically formed plant, but also a practical one. For millennia, the wood of the willow has been used for baskets, furniture, fences, and toys, while finding its place in the watercolors of Monet, Shakespearean tragedies, Hans Christian Andersen, and The Lord of the Rings. Telling the willow’s rich and multilayered tale, Alison Syme explores its presence in literature, art, and human history. Syme examines the manifold practical uses of the tree, discussing the application of its bark in medicines, its production as an energy crop that produces biofuel and charcoal, and its employment for soil stabilization and other environmental protection schemes. But despite all the functional uses of willows, she argues, we must also heed the lessons they teach about living, dying, and enriching our world. Looking at the roles that willows have played in folklore, religion, and art, she parses their connections to grief and joy, toil and play, necessity and ornament. Filled with one hundred images, Willow is a seamless account of the singular place the willow holds in our culture.