This ebook has been optimised for viewing on colour devices. Between the ages of 15 and 30 Beatrix Potter kept a secret diary written in code. When the code was cracked by Leslie Linder more than 20 years after her death, the diary revealed a remarkable picture of upper middle-class life in late Victorian Britain. This book provides an illuminating insight into the personality and inspiration of one of the world's best loved children's authors.

Contains her journal entries from the ages of 15 to 30.

An insightful biography of the pioneering conservationist, illustrator, prolific author, and creator of Peter Rabbit and other legendary tales. Beatrix Potter was born curious, with an imagination and a love of natural science and animals that would serve her well. When her self-published and self-illustrated first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, was picked up by an enterprising publisher, Beatrix’s modest “bunny book” would become a phenomenon. After more than a century, Beatrix Potter endures as one of the most cherished children’s book authors in literary history. But what were the sources of inspiration that gave birth to her beloved anthropomorphic characters and enduring cautionary tales? Through extensive research, personal letters, and photographs, this concise and intimate biography reveals Beatrix’s privileged yet restrictive Victorian childhood; her volatile relationship with her mother; a tragic love affair with her editor; her sometimes debilitating depression and illnesses; her life and career beyond Peter Rabbit; and her liberation as a passionate, driven, trailblazing, and simply original creative spirit.

Beatrix Potter was one of the inventors of the contemporary picture book, and her small novels published at the turn of the twentieth century are still available and popular today. Writing in Code is the first book-length study of Potter's work, and it covers the entire oeuvre, examining all facets of her work in relation to her private life. Daphne Kutzer reveals the depth of the symbolism in Potter’s work and relates this to the issues of the author's own development as an independent woman and writer, and her struggles with domesticity, Unitarianism, and the socio-political issues in late-19th and early-20th century England. Weaving the subtle themes inscribed in Potter's own stories with the concerns and temperament of the author who wrote them, Kutzer exemplifies literary criticism as it can illuminate the breadth of allusion in children's literature.

Published in time for the 150th anniversary of her birth, this story stars a young Beatrix Potter, creator of The Tale of Peter Rabbit and many other classic children’s books. Master of the historical fiction picture book, Hopkinson takes readers back to Victorian England and the home of budding young artist and animal lover Beatrix Potter. When Beatrix brings home her neighbor’s pet guinea pig so that she can practice painting it, well . . . it dies! Now what? Written in the form of a “picture letter,” this charming, hilarious, and mostly true tale is a wonderful introduction to a beloved author/illustrator. An author's note includes photographs and more information about Beatrix Potter's life and work. "A charming, delightful homage." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred

Miss Potter's new hometown of Holly How is having its share of troubles, and three children, favorites of Beatrix, are counting on the help of the fairies of Cuckoo Brow Wood. Now, with her signature tact, Beatrix must work with her friends-human and animal-to set things right.

A powerful collection of quotations by writers, leaders, and legends on the pain of losing a pet and overcoming grief. An animal’s love is deep, uncomplicated, unconditional, and forgiving. “Affection without ambivalence” is how Sigmund Freud described the connection. “No matter how awful the day, or how awful I am behaving at any given moment, George doesn’t care,” writes journalist John Dickerson. “He finds me smoldering in my chair and dashes to my lap.” Our lives are intricately intertwined with our pets, and together, over time, we establish rituals that are as steady as a metronome. It’s no wonder the grief is crushing when they depart—even those who’ve had time to prepare describe feeling stunned, devastated, and cracked in two. “We were a bit broken up over the death of our black Persian cat,” crime novelist Raymond Chandler confessed. “When I say a bit broken up, I am being conventional. For us it was a tragedy.” Nobel Prize–winning author V. S. Naipaul described the experience as “calamitous,” and writer May Sarton called it a “volcanic eruption of woe.” Poet Emily Dickinson was so bereft she asked for help: “Carlo died,” she announced in a letter to her friend Thomas Wentworth Higginson in 1866. “Would you instruct me now?” The Book of Pet Love and Loss is a collection of quotations—poignant thoughts and memories discovered in letters, journals, diaries, memoirs, and other original sources—from beloved cultural figures who understood this singular experience so deeply, they felt compelled to write about it. This book dignifies the profound connection we share with our animal companions, but it also provides solace as mourners document their heartache over the loss of their cats, dogs, rabbits, birds, and other animals—even, in the case of Pablo Neruda, a mongoose. Their comforting and wise words are what every animal lover needs on this journey of heartbreak and healing.

'A diary is an assassin's cloak which we wear when we stab a comrade in the back with a pen', wrote William Soutar in 1934. But a diary is also a place for recording everyday thoughts and special occasions, private fears and hopeful dreams. The Assassin's Cloak gathers together some of the most entertaining and inspiring entries for each day of the year, as writers ranging from Queen Victoria to Andy Warhol, Samuel Pepys to Adrian Mole, pen their musings on the historic and the mundane. Spanning centuries and international in scope, this peerless anthology pays tribute to a genre that is at once the most intimate and public of all literary forms. This new updated edition is published to mark the twentieth anniversary of the book's original publication.