Beatrix Potter - by Linda Lear (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

In this now classic biography, reissued in a new edition for the 150th anniversary of Beatrix Potter's birth, Linda Lear offers the astonishing portrait of an extraordinary woman who gave us some of the most beloved children's books of all time.

Potter found freedom from her conventional Victorian upbringing in the countryside. Nature inspired her imagination as an artist and scientific illustrator, but The Tale of Peter Rabbit brought her fame, financial success, and the promise of happiness when she fell in love with her editor Norman Warne. After his tragic and untimely death, Potter embraced a new life as the owner of Hill Top Farm in the English Lake District and a second chance at happiness. As a visionary landowner, successful farmer and sheep-breeder, she was able to preserve the landscape that had inspired her art.

Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature reveals a lively, independent, and passionate woman, whose art was timeless, and whose generosity left an indelible imprint on the countryside. This anniversary edition is complete with a brand new foreword by James Rebanks, the Lake District shepherd and social media sensation who chronicles his world on Twitter and in his wonderful book, "A Shepherd's Life".

Review Quotes

Winner of the 2007 Lakeland Book of the Year Award:

"Read Beatrix Potter by Linda Lear and you sense a woman poised between late-Victorian constraint and the promises, intellectual and amorous, of liberation."--Anthony Lane, "The New Yorker"

"Potter was a famously close observer of the world around her, and Lear is an equally close observer of her subject. The result is a meticulously researched and brilliantly re-created life that, despite its length and accretion of detail, is endlessly fascinating and often illuminating. It is altogether a remarkable achievement."--"Booklist, *Starred Review*"

"Lear is not only an impeccable historian but a grand storyteller...a magisterial and definitive biography, a delight in every way."--"The Horn Book"

"In this remarkable biography...the author's meticulous attention to detail is obvious throughout, not to mention her elegant writing and exceptional scholarship. Highly recommended."--"Library Journal"

Praise for "Beatrix Potter," Winner of the 2007 Lakeland Book of the Year Award:

"Read Beatrix Potter by Linda Lear and you sense a woman poised between late-Victorian constraint and the promises, intellectual and amorous, of liberation."--Anthony Lane, "The New Yorker"

"Potter was a famously close observer of the world around her, and Lear is an equally close observer of her subject. The result is a meticulously researched and brilliantly re-created life that, despite its length and accretion of detail, is endlessly fascinating and often illuminating. It is altogether a remarkable achievement."--"Booklist, *Starred Review*"

"Lear is not only an impeccable historian but a grand storyteller...a magisterial and definitive biography, a delight in every way."--"The Horn Book"

"In this remarkable biography...the author's meticulous attention to detail is obvious throughout, not to mention her elegant writing and exceptional scholarship. Highly recommended."--"Library Journal"

Praise for "Beatrix Potter", Winner of the 2007 Lakeland Book of the Year Award:

"Read Beatrix Potter by Linda Lear and you sense a woman poised between late-Victorian constraint and the promises, intellectual and amorous, of liberation."--Anthony Lane, "The New Yorker"

"Potter was a famously close observer of the world around her, and Lear is an equally close observer of her subject. The result is a meticulously researched and brilliantly re-created life that, despite its length and accretion of detail, is endlessly fascinating and often illuminating. It is altogether a remarkable achievement."--"Booklist, *Starred Review*"

"Lear is not only an impeccable historian but a grand storyteller...a magisterial and definitive biography, a delight in every way."--"The Horn Book"

"In this remarkable biography...the author's meticulous attention to detail is obvious throughout, not to mention her elegant writing and exceptional scholarship. Highly recommended."--"Library Journal"

Praise for "Beatrix Potter," Winner of the 2007 Lakeland Book of the Year Award:

"Read Beatrix Potter by Linda Lear and you sense a woman poised between late-Victorian constraint and the promises, intellectual and amorous, of liberation."--Anthony Lane, "The New Yorker"

"Potter was a famously close observer of the world around her, and Lear is an equally close observer of her subject. The result is a meticulously researched and brilliantly re-created life that, despite its length and accretion of detail, is endlessly fascinating and often illuminating. It is altogether a remarkable achievement."--"Booklist, *Starred Review*"

"Lear is not only an impeccable historian but a grand storyteller...a magisterial and definitive biography, a delight in every way."--"The Horn Book"

"In this remarkable biography...the author's meticulous attention to detail is obvious throughout, not to mention her elegant writing and exceptional scholarship. Highly recommended."--"Library Journal"

Praise for Linda Lear's BEATRIX POTTER: "Lear paints an appealing, revealing picture of an independent, accomplished and loving woman who used her art and research to educate herselve and a host of readers."--"Bookpage""" "As an appreciation of a life well-lived and a talent almost accidentally nurtured, "Beatrix Potter," tells an absorbing story well worth reading."--"Christian Science Monitor" "Potter was a famously close observer of the world around her, and Lear is an equally close observer of her subject. The result is a meticulously researched and brilliantly re-created life that, despite its length and accretion of detail, is endlessly fascinating and often illuminating. It is altogether a remarkable achievement."--"Booklist, *Starred Review*""" "In this remarkable biography...the author's meticulous attention to detail is obvious throughout, not to mention her elegant writing and exceptional scholarship. Highly recommended."--"Library Journal" "Potter's witty journals, with their close observations of people, animals, objects and places, serve as the basis for Lear's engrossing account, which will appeal to ecologists, historians, child lit buffs and those who want to know the real Squirrel Nutkin, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Benjamin Bunny."--"Publishers Weekly" "The great achievement of this book is the way it knits together Potter's lifelong activities in art and science and shows how they are all part of an extraordinarily integrated life: how her feeling for plants and animals and her finely detailed observations of the natural world were the foundation stones of her children's books as well as her land management skills and environmentalawareness."--"The Australian""" "An in-depth biography of Beatrix Potter is long overdue and here Linda Lear fills that gap with a thoroughly well-researched and compelling book."--Judy Taylor, author of "Beatrix Potter: Artist, Storyteller and Countrywoman"

Praise for Linda Lear's BEATRIX POTTER: "An in-depth biography of Beatrix Potter is long overdue and here Linda Lear fills that gap with a thoroughly well-researched and compelling book."--Judy Taylor, author of "Beatrix Potter: Artist, Storyteller and Countrywoman" Praise for Linda Lear's RACHEL CARSON: WITNESS FOR NATURE:
.."a probing and scrupulously footnoted accounting of this extraordinary woman's life....Lear's treatment of Carson's romantic life is never prurient, and it helps fill out the portrait of a gifted and courageous woman who helped redefine the way humans look at their place in nature."--"Time"
"Linda Lear's RACHEL CARSON: WITNESS FOR NATURE is timely indeed. Happily it is also authoritative. Lear..has the empathy, balance and literary skill to conjure up Carson the scientist, writer, lover and family member, shackled for life to need relatives....As both biography and scientific commentary, RACHEL CARSON: WITNESS FOR NATURE is a staggering accomplishment. Lear's impressive research, scrupulous presentation, deep sensitivity, controlled passion and lyrical prose are reminiscent of Carson's, and paint a mulit-dimensional portrait of the woman whose Silent Spring unleashed shrieks of protest that still resound today."--Elizabeth Abbott
"Hers was an exemplary existence, and now it has been told in exemplary fashion by Linda Lear....Lear is honest but tactful - reflecting Carson's own delicacy....the power of Lear's magnificent, heartfelt biography is enough to send the reader back to Carson's writing with new attention and respect."--Verlyn Klinkenborg," Audubon"
"Much deserved, a biography would also be difficult to write. Happily, RACHEL CARSON: WITNESSFOR NATURE by Linda Lear is sensitive, scrupulous and a consistently fine read."--"Baltimore Sun" "In terms of research, Carson has been well-served by her biographer."-- "Observer Review"
"Linda Lear's prose is tidy, meticulous in its attention to detail and shows a deep reverence for its subject."--"New Scientist"

About the Author

An environmental historian and biographer, Linda Lear is the author of the prize-winning study, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature. A natural history enthusiast and a collector of botanical art, she and her husband tend gardens in Bethesda, MD and Charleston, SC.

James Rebanks is the author of The Shepherd's Life. He is the Herdwick Shepherd, whose account of shepherding has a strong following on Twitter. His family have farmed in the same area for six hundred years.