Beatrix Potter

A Life in Nature

Linda Lear

The first complete biography of the twentieth century's most beloved children's writer

Beatrix Potter, the twentieth century's most beloved children's writer and illustrator, created books that will forever conjure nature for millions. Yet though she is a household name around the world, her personal life and her other significant achievements remain largely unknown. This remarkable new biography is a voyage of discovery into the story of an extraordinary woman. At a time when plunder was more popular than preservation, she brought nature back into the English imagination. Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature reveals a strong, humorous and independent woman, whose art was timeless, and whose generosity left an indelible imprint on the countryside.

Linda Lear has always been intrigued by how the lives of artists and writers have been influenced by the natural world. She discovered quite by accident that before Potter began her legendary series of 'little books' for children she had been an avid student of natural history. A professor of environmental history and author of the prize-winning biography Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature, Lear is an enthusiastic horticulturalist and collector of botanical art. She and her husband live in Bethesda, Maryland.