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  • The Golden Age
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The Golden Age Hardcover – Oct. 27 2022

Japanese edition by Kenneth Grahame (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 81 ratings
3.8 on Goodreads
484 ratings

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

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  1. Reading age
    8 - 12 years
  2. Print length
    274 pages
  3. Language
    Japanese
  4. Grade level
    Preschool - 2
  5. Dimensions
    15.6 x 1.6 x 23.39 cm
  6. Publisher
    Legare Street Press
  7. Publication date
    Oct. 27 2022
  8. ISBN-10
    1016406762
  9. ISBN-13
    978-1016406765
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Legare Street Press
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ Oct. 27 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ Japanese
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 274 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1016406762
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1016406765
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 558 g
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 - 12 years
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.6 x 1.6 x 23.39 cm
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ Preschool - 2
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 81 ratings

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4.1 out of 5 stars
81 global ratings

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Top reviews from Canada

  • B. Cottrill
    5.0 out of 5 stars VISIONS OF CHILDHOOD
    Reviewed in Canada on November 13, 2014
    Scottish author, Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) is best known for his classic fantasy The Wind in the Willows. But thirteen years before that came a classic of another kind. In The Golden Age, the author revisits his childhood. Capturing the nineteenth century, and the “children should be seen and not heard” era, Grahame paints a delightful picture of a family of children who, left to themselves in an English country home, are endlessly creative, and sometimes mischievous, in their play.

    Some of the eighteen short stories are warmly humorous, others are almost painfully nostalgic. The tales are often couched in the mythology of ancient Greece, with adults being the Olympian gods, far above the children, and often lacking in sensitivity for the fears and frustrations of the young.

    This is a superb book. Swinburne, in a critical analysis, called it “one of the few books which are well-nigh too praiseworthy for praise.” The writing is full of insightful imagery that often captures the serious business of childish play. Be prepared to have your vocabulary challenged from time to time, though. It’s helpful to have the Kindle version with which one can check word meanings easily.

    For those who remember, even dimly, what it was like to be young in a sometimes confusing adult world, this book will ring true. Lewis Carroll’s Alice, and James M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, take up a similar theme, but this book stands up well in their company. Recommended.
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  • northern sky
    4.0 out of 5 stars a nostalgic look at the Victorian period
    Reviewed in Canada on April 13, 2011
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    The language by today's standards is awkward and archaic, but once drawn in one can get used to it and have your vocabulary enriched. Halcyon days indeed. Definitely not from the point of view of the working class, but nevertheless a beautiful remembrance of days long past, wonderfully captured through the eyes of a child. The reproduction is adequate and price is fair. Glad to have read it and have it join my library.
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  • m.s. handley
    5.0 out of 5 stars K. Grahame Examines Childhood
    Reviewed in Canada on March 16, 2001
    Kenneth Grahame's rich, elegant writing make "The Golden Age" a joy to read and reread. While it is a story of children in late Victorian England, it is not a childish book. Rather, it is an examination of how children view the world and are confounded by the actions of the adults around them. Grahame had a wonderful knack for presenting the child's point of view without being cutesy or condescending - no other author has as successfully done this. Nor does he present the typical Victorian view that children are all little angels and always innocent. All adults should read this book - it makes one stop and examine one's priorities and will encourage you recapture a zest for life and imagination.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Nikki
    5.0 out of 5 stars Classic and charming
    Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2012
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    This book is a collection of whimsical vignettes (which I read somewhere are based on the author's own childhood in rural England) describing the lazy afternoon activities of a young boy and his siblings. The author has a poetic descriptive prose that is easy to read and evokes the atmosphere of his settings beautifully. If you are an aspiring writer and you want to know how to write from a child's perspective, then this is a must read. I found these short pieces to be charming, sometimes humorous, sometimes meaningful, and they completely capture the essence of the golden summer afternoons of childhood. From a modern perspective, the time period of these stories is also perfectly placed as it is "vintage" enough to add charm without requiring us to wade through the sort of antique language that gave us all fits in school literature classes.
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  • inkylittlefingers
    5.0 out of 5 stars What a find! Great treasure, indeed,
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 14, 2014
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    I decided to download this on whim, as it was free. I am so glad I did. Firstly, it made me want to rush off and read WITW. I'd never been a fan, as watching the TV series as a child, Toad got right on my nerves...
    But reading this autobiography is to indulge in the days of innocent chiildhood, when summers last 40 weeks of the year and we were able to play out safely, stretching and strengthening our imagination, for 14 hours a day.
    It is so beautifully written you can't help but lose yourself in Grahame's world, travelling back in time and sharing his memories right alongside him -the sounds, sights, smells are all so poignantly and artistically painted in words. If you love well written memoirs of times past, you will love this book.
    Another one to lok out for is Rumer Godden's autobiography, A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep
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  • Don Quixote
    4.0 out of 5 stars An Ode to Childhood
    Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2021
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    _The Wind in the Willows_ (1908) is one of my favorite books. I love the characters, the setting, the events, the overall worldview it conveys. When I found a copy of _The Golden Age_(1895) at a local used book store, I welcomed the opportunity to explore another work by the same author. I enjoy reading evocations of childhood, and I thought the title was perfect. I read the first few words, “Looking back on those days of old, ere the gate shut to behind me…” and without hesitation I bought the book. Soon after that I used this phrase as an epigraph for a collection of short stories I wrote about my own childhood (the title was _The Gates of Heaven_), but this happened at least 12 years ago, and it was only last week that I finally read Kenneth Grahame’s book.

    The first thing one should say about _The Golden Age_, at the risk of stating the obvious, is that this is not _The Wind in the Willows_. The approach and the structure are quite similar: both novels are episodic narratives that focus on a handful of characters that constitute a microcosm of sorts, and there is subtle social commentary present. The element of fable, however, is missing in _The Golden Age_; the characters and the episodes are not as memorable, the universe the author creates not as mesmerizing, as those of _The Wind in the Willows_. When it comes to literature written for children, it seems that fantasy is the way to go. At the same time, _The Golden Age_ is a delightful collection of realist short stories, and it seems to me that it was necessary for Grahame to write this book before producing his masterpiece.

    The protagonists are five orphaned siblings--Edward, Selina, Charlotte, Harold and the unnamed narrator--who live with their aunts and uncles. They refer to the latter as the Olympians, and the two factions, children and grownups, are constantly engaged in battle. If one chose to read _The Golden Age_ as a novella, the situation at the center of it would be the impossibility for children and adults to understand each other. The narrator looks back on those glorious days before he became an Olympian himself, so his stories are suffused with nostalgia.

    This is a very simple book. Most of the episodes revolve around an unstated moral, a moment of realization, an epiphany, if you will. I thought the best way for me to share my thoughts about _The Golden Age_ would be to choose my three favorite stories and to comment on them briefly. So here they are:

    * The Finding of the Princess: having decided to skip his geography lesson, the narrator goes through the woods and crosses a stream into a neighboring estate he perceives as Fairyland. There must be a princess somewhere nearby, and he finds her enjoying a moment with her partner. The couple are about twenty, but to the narrator they are adults, simply because they are not children. He does not realize what type of moment he has interrupted, but the young man and woman are kind to him and take him to the house, where he is served a meal and becomes the center of attention. I like this story because it features the impulse to escape the constraints of the adult world, to shun the dullness of duty and find one’s own Fairyland. At the same time, the narrator finds that not all adults are tyrants, and he even gives relationship advice to the couple. This story will give you an idea of the simplicity of the book and of its beautiful prose (more on this below).

    * ‘Exit Tyrannus:’ Mrs. Smedley, the tyrannical governess, is leaving. The kids look forward to the day, but once it arrives their mood changes. They remember the governess’ many acts of kindness towards them. A part of their lives will be gone. This brief story is about the tremendous weight of those things that remain unsaid. It is also about the inevitability of change and childhood’s aversion to it. “Things might be better, or they might be worse, but they would never be the same; and the innate conservatism of youth asks neither poverty nor riches, but only immunity from change.” Mrs. Smedley’s departure is both real and symbolic. In a sense everything is, especially during childhood, as this story demonstrates wonderfully.

    * A Falling Out: A retelling of a story told by Harold to the narrator. This tale of reconciliation recounts Harold’s trip to the town to buy a tea set he wants to give to Selina, whom he has treated poorly. I like the sense of quest and personal sacrifice, all done for the sake of forgiveness and harmony. In the process, Harold and the narrator are also reconciled with the Olympians, as Harold comes to see the arch-enemy, Farmer Larkin, in a new light. “Really,” says the narrator, “those Olympians have certain good points, far down in them. I shall have to leave off abusing them some day.”

    Rereading my comparison between this novel and Grahame’s most famous one, it seems to me I am not being entirely fair. I will always prefer to reread _The Wind in the Willows_, and yet there is something to be found in _The Golden Age_ that you won’t find in the later novel. I am referring to the humorously ornate prose that characterizes _The Golden Age_ from beginning to end. This book is a delight to read out loud. The style of _The Wind in the Willows_ is more accessible to a child of our time, but _The Golden Age_ is meant to be enjoyed by children and adults alike. Perhaps one of its many purposes is to remind Olympians that they were children once. In both books the descriptions are exquisite and enchanting. Here’s the narrator falling asleep after a long day in “The Finding of the Princess:” “Then, nature asserting herself, I passed into the comforting kingdom of sleep, where, a golden carp of fattest build, I oared it in translucent waters with a new half-crown snug under right fin and left; and thrust up a nose through water-lily leaves to be kissed by a rose-flushed Princess.”

    My devotion to _The Wind in the Willows_ does not allow me to give _The Golden Age_ five stars, but please don’t get me wrong: the latter is a beautiful book you won’t soon forget. I now look forward to rereading _The Wind in the Willows_ with a better sense of context. In a way, these two books are the same story narrated in a different mode.

    Next on my list: _The Adventures of Pinocchio_ (1883), by Carlo Collodi.

    Thanks for reading, and enjoy the book!
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  • Paulus
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 11, 2017
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    Good
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  • MaryB
    5.0 out of 5 stars Return to the simple fantasy of childhood dreams
    Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2018
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    How did I miss this treasure for so many years? This is a fun, subtly humorous series of stories about an imaginative family of children. It is perfect reading for escaping from the stress of adult life. I am a great fan of the Wind in the Willows and the Reluctant Dragon and enjoyed finding more wonderful stories by my favorite author.
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