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For households across the land， all self-respecting rabbits wear blue coats with brass buttons and hop around vegetable patches， eating radishes.2 Everyone knows the enchanting tale of Peter Rabbit. Few know the tragic tale of his creator， Beatrix Potter.
This year is the 150th anniversary of Potter’s birth， and archivists have been trawling through her thousands of letters—many of them unpublished—for hidden details about her life.3 They have discovered that behind her fiercely guarded public image was a deeply sensitive woman， who never got over her first love.4
Beatrix’s relationship with her publisher， Norman Warne， was the focus of Miss Potter 5. But in the film， Beatrix lives happily ever after with William Heelis， a solicitor6. The truth is much darker. “It’s a really sad story，” says Sara Glenn， curator7 of the Warne archives. “Reading Beatrix’s letters， I was surprised to find that her love for Norman never died. We think of Beatrix Potter as a strong， private woman， but these letters show her intense loneliness.”
Beatrix Potter was born into an upper-class household on July 28， 1866. The family lived at 2 Bolton Gardens in Kensington， west London. Beatrix had few friends， except for the rabbits and mice she kept as pets. She loved to sketch8 them. In her late 20s， she wrote illustrated letters to the children of her former governess9， Annie Moore. Five-yearold Noel， who had been ill with scarlet fever， received the first incarnation of The Tale of Peter Rabbit.10 Moore suggested Beatrix turn the story into a book. Six publishers rejected the manuscript11， so Beatrix published it herself. It was such a success that she asked the publisher who had sent the politest rejection letter， Frederick Warne
This year is the 150th anniversary of Potter’s birth， and archivists have been trawling through her thousands of letters—many of them unpublished—for hidden details about her life.3 They have discovered that behind her fiercely guarded public image was a deeply sensitive woman， who never got over her first love.4
Beatrix’s relationship with her publisher， Norman Warne， was the focus of Miss Potter 5. But in the film， Beatrix lives happily ever after with William Heelis， a solicitor6. The truth is much darker. “It’s a really sad story，” says Sara Glenn， curator7 of the Warne archives. “Reading Beatrix’s letters， I was surprised to find that her love for Norman never died. We think of Beatrix Potter as a strong， private woman， but these letters show her intense loneliness.”
Beatrix Potter was born into an upper-class household on July 28， 1866. The family lived at 2 Bolton Gardens in Kensington， west London. Beatrix had few friends， except for the rabbits and mice she kept as pets. She loved to sketch8 them. In her late 20s， she wrote illustrated letters to the children of her former governess9， Annie Moore. Five-yearold Noel， who had been ill with scarlet fever， received the first incarnation of The Tale of Peter Rabbit.10 Moore suggested Beatrix turn the story into a book. Six publishers rejected the manuscript11， so Beatrix published it herself. It was such a success that she asked the publisher who had sent the politest rejection letter， Frederick Warne