Mole, Ratty and Badger are friends who live on the riverbank near the Wild Wood. They also have a friend called Toad, who is a rather insufferable and rash creature. He becomes obsessed with one thing after another, and this time his passion for racing cars leads him to prison. His friends will do their best to help him regain his house and reputation. I read this story when I was a child and it is cute, with anthropomorphised animals in the vein of Watership Down. It’s a nice childhood memory.
“The Mole was a good listener, and Toad, with no one to check his statements or to criticise in an unfriendly spirit, rather let himself go. Indeed, much that he related belonged more properly to the category of what-might-have-happened-had-I-only-thought-of-it-in-time-instead-of-ten-minutes-afterwards. Those are always the best and the raciest adventures; and why should they not be truly ours, as much as the somewhat inadequate things that really come off?”