For most of us, Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is a name that conjures up anthropomorphic rabbits and puddle-ducks. Linda Lear's Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature adds depth and color to the image. The first truly comprehensive biography of "Peter Rabbit's mother" places the famed author/illustrator within the context of her times. Potter once wrote, "I do not remember a time when I did not try to invent pictures and make for myself a fairyland amongst the wild flowers, the animals, fungi, mosses, woods and streams, all the thousands objects of the countryside." Lear shows how Potter's love of nature was woven inextricably to her artistry. A pastel treasure.
A concise new life of the creator of Peter Rabbit and Pigling Bland illuminates a life devoted to the world her art and stories represent. Essay by Michael Dirda.