Beatrix Potter

“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.” - Beatrix Potter

The letter from Beatrix Potter began with a simple line: “My dear Noel, I don’t know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits, whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter…” A drawing of the four, hunched together, with their names written, was just beneath the words.

It was a gesture of care to a sick child recovering from scarlet fever. But the little story that unfolded would one day become the foundation for the children’s classic Peter Rabbit, enchanting generations worldwide. It would also help turn Beatrix into one of history’s great writers of children’s books, and, because of her immense aversion to publicity, one of the more mysterious.