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One of my favorite biographical fiction series about a beloved author. These books were a masterpiece and I was sad to see them end.

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Thank you, Donna. Beatrix has been an inspiration for me in so many ways.

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I love how you write and love your Beatrix Potter series. I had a pet mouse when I was about 17 and now, at 69, I talk to the animals as I walk through the woods and prairie. I have often wonder if Ms Potter's parents might have had something to do with Normans death somehow. The were pretty adamant that she should be dedicated to them, caring for them to the end. Now I'm rambling.

I hope Bill is doing better and that you are taking care of yourself.

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I too hope Bill is better and doing well.

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Yes, thank you for asking! It was a matter of adjusting his meds. Relieved that it went so well, and that our son was here to help with the driving.

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Interesting thought, Karen--I confess that it crossed my mind too. Beatrix's biographers say that Norman died of leukemia--but I'm sure that Helen and Rupert rejoiced. And probably didn't make the effort to hide their happy relief from Beatrix. An ugly situation, wasn't it? Such wretched people!

Lucky you, to have had a pet mouse. My children and I had a pet white rat--a pleasant companion. Bill and I talk to our animals, too--and they talk back to us, when we have the wits to listen. When you get down to basics, we're all just different animal species, sharing a common habitat. 💚💚 Thanks for the well-wishes. We do try to take care of ourselves, always a challenge as we grow older!

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As usual, I find your process interesting and educational. I'm one of those who read the entire series and remember a lot of the stories even though I read them years ago. I always thought the animals were fun without being childish. They fit the stories so well.

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Thank you, Penny. I'll say more about the animals in another post. I loved them as characters, with individual personalities (just as our own animal friends do). But as a writer, I loved what they enabled me to do: things in the fiction that my human characters could never do. The series taught me a great deal.

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Very interesting! Thank you.

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I've ordered four books, hope to complete the collection later. I'm a huge Potter fan, and am so happy to know about these Cottage Tales.

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They were such fun to write. Since you know her children's work, you'll see her influence (direct and indirect) in every book. Hope you enjoy them!

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I am one of the many(I am sure) who devoured the entire series as fast as I could. I loved it so much, both for the glimpse inside the life of B.P. as for the wonderful cast of animal characters, and the beautiful descriptions of the English countryside. I, too, loved the narrator and found myself laughing out loud at her sassiness as she became more developed. I felt she made the stories richer. These books are in my all-time favorites column. 🥰

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I'll say more about that narrator in another post. But you're right, Beth, about that narrator. In fact, she got so bossy that I sometimes had to make her go sit in a corner and watch while the people and animals got on with their stories. But there she was again, a few pages later, always with something to SAY. Rereading the series recently, I almost wished I'd sent her to her corner more often.🙄

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That’s funny! No worries. I overlooked her when she got too bossy. She reminded me of me! 😁

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Very true--we can always just skip a few paragraphs! Something I tell myself often. 😍

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I sure wish I could travel to the UK to the Lake District to see where Beatrix lived and perhaps see the Dales where James Herriott lived-Another favorite author of mine. Helps to dream at my age

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We were there often during the late 1990s, early 2000s, when there was less tourist traffic. But still, those little villages were often just swamped with people. I find myself now enjoying the many photos and travel pieces I find online, Debra--less wearing than actual travel!

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Thanks for the information about Beatrix Potter. She was an extraordinary person, who was bold for her time. I am currently reading The Wilder Rose about Rose Wilder Lane. Mothers and daughters have interesting relationships. As the grandmother (Oma) to two wonderful grandgirls, I have tried to create connection, but it is difficult to do since they sometimes think I am a dinosaur. I will still try.

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And it's harder when we FEEL like a dinosaur (I do, often) Debra. I think that generation gap is the widest ever, in all human history--because of the huge changes in media. The kids communicate in ways that are often hard for me to comprehend. I compare that to my relationship to my mom, which was often strained--something like Laura's and Rose's. But we at least shared the same language! Good luck with your grandgirls, Oma!❤

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Thank you for your kind response. Yes, I will keep trying. Our 12 year old girls, Brinsley and Kynlee, both have developed a love of our Wilderness Ridge Ranch in Mason County. Being in the stark wilderness surely has its power to embrace me the more time I spend there. My Picture This App has helped me ID plants out there-so nice to know what I am looking at since I grew up in rural north LA. Maintaining our east Texas home plus the ranch are a full time job for my husband and I. We may soon pair down to one place, but I love them both so much, it will be hard. Think the Hill Country may win out, though. Old Yeller beckons!

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Susan thank you for this deep dive into Beatrix Potter and the backstory of The Cottage Tale series. I have noted the books and biographers! The series was so appealing to me that I may as well have been eating a box of chocolates! Especially interested in Leslie Linder's decoding of BPs journals. Since BP had so few friends, let alone a best friend to share giggles and tears with through the growing-up years. it's little wonder that animals took on personalities and, in a sense, became friends. She seems to have balanced that need rather nicely as she grew up with her other talents and vibrant intelligence.

BTW - Beatrix was my father's mother's first name. Pronounced - Bee-at-tricks. Accent on at.) Which had always left me wanting an 'x' in my name! In more resent time, Elon Musk has stunk up that little dream. sigh ...... Sending you and Bill my best wish for a little calm and lots of healing.

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Sandy, that Linder decoding is a story of its own! There's a book about it--unfortunately hard to get in the US. https://beatrixpottersociety.org.uk/shop-online/other-beatrix-potter-related-books/beatrix-potters-secret-code-breaker/

This article is helpful, though: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/beatrix-potter-secret-journal-code-leslie-linder And the introduction to Beatrix's journals (in the free Kindle sample available on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Journal-Beatrix-Potter-1881-1897-ebook/dp/B007TVXKLO/) will give you another view of the problem Linder faced. Beatrix herself couldn't read that code in her later years!

Thanks for the well-wishes. Things are quieting down here, for which I am very grateful.

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Thanks so much for the leads and links. Very interesting! Do take care with rest and favorite teas. 🙂

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I have read every Robin Paige, every China Bayles and every Cottage Tales. I am starting to re-read the Cottage Tales again so I feel that this post is very timely for me. Since I read them when they first came out I want to glean things from them I might have missed the first time around.

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This is one series where it actually helps to read the books in sequence, since they are faithful (as much as possible) to Beatrix's life and work. I realized this when I read them in sequence recently, one after the other. Which is definitely NOT the way they were written! In most of those years, I wrote 2 other books between each Cottage Tale. Reading in sequence, I could see the continuity in her growth more clearly. And I could see and wish for things I might have done to foreground that aspect of the books for the reader.

Thank you for being such a committed reader! You probably know things about my work that even I can't see. ❤

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And how could I forget the Darling Dahlias? The old memory isn’t what it used to be!

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Oh, tell me about it, Kathy! (Memory, that is.) A constant theme of conversation around our house, as we try to steer our days by multiple to-do lists--trying hard not to leave anything out!

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Have loved Beatrix Potter since childhood and am charmed by your Cottage Tales which I read some years ago. Am interested to know if you experienced any “restrictions” in your own life from which you had to break away, comparable to BP’s parental chains.

So thankful Bill’s health has settled some. Aging has so many challenges, hadn’t it. (Speaking as vintage 1940)

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Nice to hear another voice from that same fine vintage year, JES. And thanks for the question.

My restrictions were implicit in my parents' educational backgrounds (neither graduated high school) and rural Illinois where I grew up in the 1950s--low expectations, narrow horizons for all (not just girls). Married at 18, 3 children by the time I was 22. But I was writing (like BP's drawing), and selling my work to small magazines. That compelled me to enroll in "a few courses"--which led to a UC Berkeley PhD and beyond. IOW, not intentionally limited by parents but more by circumstances--which are easier and less painful (perhaps) to alter.

And here we are, in our 80s, you and I, in the limiting circumstances that aging brings, but with a universe of experience behind us and access to a communications network unimaginable to a 1940 child. Interesting, isn't it?

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I grew up in NYC where opportunity abounded. After a year of college, I chose marriage (also at 18) over continuing and had four children by age 26. My husband worked full-time and attended college at night. It took him almost 10 years, but he completed his degree. I always, always, always read - for myself and to my children. So, while I was not limited by low expectations I chose my own path. No regrets! Still a reader. Still love exploring new subjects (my retirement community is big on lifelong learning) without exams or deadlines. I’m one of five in my generation. Most of our parents did not complete high school. Our grandparents had only 8th grade educations, but all five of us had at least some college experience. Only one has a four-year degree - the first ever in our family line. We’ve all had what we consider successful lives. Not famous. Not wealthy. As I said in a memoir I wrote for my children, “Dad and I never had a lot of money, but we’ve always had enough.”

An unexpected blessing of elderhood (I prefer that to “old age”) is the joy of perspective!

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Yes, elderhood (lovely word!) confers huge benefits--and a sense of history is one of them. I'm amazed by what my grands and great-grands don't know about the history of the country they live in. But I knew very little about the 2-3 decades before 1940--until I began to write about those years.

You're fortunate to live in a community that supports lifelong learning. Bill and I live in an isolated situation--love the countryside, cherish the privacy, and am enormously grateful for the privilege of being part of several online communities of lifelong learners.

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I am one of the readers who read the entire Cottage Tales as they came out, in order of their appearance. I loved Beatrix and commiserated with her as she struggled with independence from her parents and the mores of Victorian England. I cheered every tiny gain that allowed her to ultimately become the woman she wanted to be. She was a visionary of conservation and I am so grateful that she realized how important the land, animals and people of the Lakes District were. We owe her a huge debt of thanks. And I thank you for writing about her life. I spent hours looking up photo's of her, Will and the farms of Near Sawrey and reading every detail I could find about her and her work.

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Gayle, what a joy to hear you say that the books prompted you to dig more deeply into this fascinating woman! I'm a great fan of books that don't just entertain me or fill an empty few hours--but lead me to other books that take me to other books and so on. I'm glad to know that the Cottage Tales worked that way for you!

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I love this series! And Lear’s biography, which I read after I read the Cottage Tales. I find what Beatrix accomplished in her later years to be so interesting, between sheep breeding and farmland conservation. I had the opportunity to visit the Lake District and Hilltop farm last April! It was cold and snowy, so perhaps not at its best, but still very worth the trip!! I think I should reread the series to escape from the news, which is so depressing!

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Kathleen, I also read Lear's biography to learn more about Potter and enjoyed it so much. The Cottage Tales are truly a joy to read for me anyway.

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Oh, Kathleen, I'm so GLAD to know that you visited, even in the snow! (Which Beatrix loved, in spite of the extra work.) Also, you got a chance to feel just how cold a British April can be--in spite of the green grass and lovely lambs. 😊

Lear's work is so important because it lays out in wonderful detail (and great documentation, too) the later chapters of her life. I'm planning to reread it, now that I"ve finished my reread of the Cottage Tales.

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Love The Cottage Tales and delighted to read more about your process. I admire and enjoy all of your series. I do so love to read a series, finishing one book and knowing more are ahead.

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That series, for me, had such a clear beginning (her loss of Norman) and a clear and very satisfactory ending, with her marriage to Will. It represents a complete chapter in the life of a Victorian woman who was just beginning to recognize her real life's mission: conserving the land and preserving a way of life. As a writer, I very much appreciated the clear shape that series offered.

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Some years ago, I discovered the Cottage Tales series and read them with great delight. I then passed them on to a wonderful aunt-in-law (so wonderful she was rarely called by her given name but instead as "Honey"). Honey had introduced me to the MISS READ series and so I was returning the favor. Later, I wished I had the books back, as I wanted to reread them. My local library had numerous books by Susan, which I enjoyed, but only one of the Cottage Tales. I read it more than once and decided it was time to collect them again by buying used copies. So I now have three, and have three more on order. They are such a delight, but they are more than that. The subtleties and depth of wisdom are there, waiting to be appreciated. THANK YOU for these tales!

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Blessings on Honey for introducing you to Miss Read, Anne! I have to reread her at least monthly, just to remind myself that somewhere in this world there is balance, a measure of peace, and acceptance of people and their foibles. The Cottage Tales are easier to find now that they're in ebook and audio, and the woman (Virginia Leishman) who reads the audiobooks is a treasure. And thank YOU for seeing through the entertainment to the other things I was trying to do in those books.

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The Cottage Tales series was a delightful mix of biography, history, and mystery when I read the entire series twenty years ago (or so)—definitely a layered "cozy," anchored in research. Thanks for sharing the backstory of your process in uncovering the famous Victorian heroine's life story. Beatrix Potter could have been among your Hidden Women series since few knew of her beyond the Peter Rabbit books. What an inspiration you both are!

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Thank you, Kate! I thought of you and your work as I wrote that post. Beatrix certainly illustrates the heroin's journey, doesn't she--and at a time when that journey was so daunting that most women simply couldn't do it. She did that in a stellar way. I was truly privileged to work with her story and fortunate to find a way to share it that has appealed to many who (as you say) only knew one of her achievements. (And probably devalued that, since it was "just for children.")

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Susan, I am so honored that you thought of my work! As you described the back story, it did resonate with me this morning as a parallel illustration of the heroine's journey in so many ways, including that Beatrix's voice found an outlet in children's literature. Not that her work wasn't brilliant in the genre! I will keep Beatrix in mind as a Victorian model. Hope all is well with you. xo

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If you ever want to dig into her, Kate, read Linda Lear's biography. Linda foregrounds her nature work--and especially her land and life-style conservation efforts. That's what makes Potter stand out for me.

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I will. Just now I googled "Potter and feminism" and found a "surprising" article about her art and science contributions being acknowledged in THE SPECTATOR, JUNE 2022: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-surprising-feminism-of-beatrix-potter/

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A good overview, thanks! That writer notes her interest in the business/marketinig opportunities Beatrix saw in her work. She was waaaay ahead of her publisher on that score, and lamented the inattention and carelessness of Harold Warne (who was jailed in 1917 for embezzling the firm's money, most of which was earned by Beatrix). But she valued her friendship with the family and didn't let that embitter her--so far as we can tell, anyway.

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I remember the embezzling and her kind response, perhaps in gratitude for the rare opportunity given to a woman writer. Potter remained true to her core self, her essential self. Maybe she did throw teacups across the room, but we'll never know!

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