The Wind in the Willows book that I read seemed to have the right tone, but the wrong storyline; after all, the original book had a Christmas in, but then Horwood wrote about how the animals didn't celebrate Christmas. It just didn't ring true for me, and I didn't bother to finish the book.
That's an interesting point about Alan Garner - I've only read the Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which always frightened me as a child, but I loved it anyway. Like Robert O'Brien's, 'the Silver Crown', which scared me so much I gave it away, and spent the next fifteen years wanting it back (until I eventually did get another copy).
Perhaps everything harks back to Robert O'Brien for me, maybe that's who I should be reading :) But I felt that 'Z for Zachariah' was trying too hard; much as you say about Alan Garner, I felt the more adult writing was trying too hard, and failing to be any good.
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That's an interesting point about Alan Garner - I've only read the Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which always frightened me as a child, but I loved it anyway. Like Robert O'Brien's, 'the Silver Crown', which scared me so much I gave it away, and spent the next fifteen years wanting it back (until I eventually did get another copy).
Perhaps everything harks back to Robert O'Brien for me, maybe that's who I should be reading :) But I felt that 'Z for Zachariah' was trying too hard; much as you say about Alan Garner, I felt the more adult writing was trying too hard, and failing to be any good.