The Golden Age (1895) is a collection of stories by Kenneth Grahame.
Although less popular than The Wind in the Willows (1908), which would
go on to become not only a defining work of Edwardian English
literature, but one of the most popular works of children's fiction in
the world, The Golden Age is a moving portrait of youth, an
understated autobiographical meditation made for children and adults
alike.
Recalling his youth among elders who exemplified Victorian values of
stoicism and quiet decency, Kenneth Grahame refers to these hallowed
figures as the "Olympians" whose presence provided both order and
necessary balance to his rambunctious, imaginative boyhood. Now an adult
himself, Grahame wonders if he has become one of these "Olympians," and
looks back on his youth not only for an answer, but for a reaffirmation
of the joy and freedom of a childhood spent among friends. In the
stories that follow, he recalls the games they played, the places they
discovered, and the legends they made of the normal, the boring, and the
everyday found all around them. Filled with references to classical
Greek mythology, Grahame's collection is nostalgic for a world left
behind, yet open to reconstituting a reality more wonderful for its
common nature. The Golden Age is not just a book about the experience
of childhood, but a study of the past that must remain present within
us. Grahame's book remains, over a century after it was published, a
classic work of literature for children and adults alike.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript,
this edition of Kenneth Grahame's The Golden Age is a classic work of
British literature reimagined for modern readers.