Beatrix Potter Becomes a Vibrant Character in Susan Wittig Albert's Tale of Hill Top Farm

Several years ago, I had the distinct pleasure of watching Miss Potter, an enchanting biopic detailing the early publishing life of beloved children’s book author Beatrix Potter. I’d always loved her stories, but this film gave me a better idea of who she was as a person. I loved her spirit, her artistic drive and her conservationist fervor, and I was utterly touched by the deep friendship she shared with her publisher, Norman Warne, the childlike young man who would ultimately propose marriage to her. This chaste but intense relationship unfolds beautifully upon the screen, and echoes of it resonate throughout The Tale of Hill Top Farm, the first in a series of novels by Susan Wittig Albert that explores Beatrix’s life in England’s Lake District.

While the plots and most of the characters are invented for the series, the books use the contours of Beatrix’s life as a framework, and in this first book, Norman is still very much on Beatrix’s mind. The story is tinged with sadness because Beatrix is attempting to rebuild her life in the wake of his sudden death from a severe illness. Sometimes, the agony of her solitude nearly immobilizes her, as does regret over her failure to stand up to her disapproving parents, which could have allowed her a bit more precious time with Norman. Albert writes movingly of Beatrix’s struggle to get on with her life, particularly in the second chapter, when Beatrix reflects upon “Gentle Norman, whom she had loved with all the fierce, pent-up passion of a heart that had long ago despaired of loving or being loved.”

She also explores her devotion and bereavement through another character, Beatrix’s pet mouse Tom Thumb, who lost his wife, Hunca Munca, in an accident the year before. Of course, his feelings are not quite so deep as Beatrix’s, as we discover rather comically the first time he comes into contact with another mouse. But Tom is distraught enough to elicit sympathy from his perceptive owner.

Just as Miss Potter included understated animation to give us the sense of the way the animals she drew came alive for Beatrix, Albert incorporates animals organically as well. Many of them are meant to be animals Beatrix based her book characters on, and she has some fun setting up contrasts between the animals’ personalities or physical features and those of their fictional counterparts. Some chapters focus exclusively upon these animals, whose dialogue is all rendered in italics, a simple but effective way to help readers keep track of whether the speaker is an animal or a “Big Person,” as they call the humans. They are also present throughout the rest of the novel, commenting on the conversation of village residents and wishing they could make themselves understood. Some of my favorite parts of this first book involve the animals finding clever ways to help Jeremy, a sensitive, artistic child who has been falsely accused of stealing by his ill-tempered teacher.

Most likely, some people will find the integration of the animals annoying or feel that it takes them out of the story, but in my case, it drew me in more, and it was fun to see the differing perspectives on the same event. The human characters are enjoyable as well, though I found myself a bit overwhelmed by them. This is one of those tiny towns like Mitford or Ballykissangel where a host of colorful residents reside and everyone knows each other. Albert helpfully provides a glossary of characters, mentioning both humans and animals and indicating those that actually existed, but I still got a little bogged down at first. I’m sure this will get better as the books go along, since this one is so much about establishing the various characters. My favorites include the independent-minded Dimity Woodcock, who lives with her bachelor brother, a Justice of the Peace; Samuel Sackett, the mild-mannered vicar who does his best to keep the peace among the sometimes contentious townspeople; strong-willed Bertha Stubbs, who has a habit of accidentally inventing words in her attempts to be grandiloquent; and the aforementioned Jeremy, a thoroughly charming child. Then, of course, there is shy solicitor William Heelis, one of the few real-life characters and the man Beatrix would eventually marry.

Albert uses over-the-shoulder narration that flits from one person to the next, so meandering through the novel feels a lot like listening to one of Garrison Keillor’s tales from Lake Wobegon. We focus on one character, then another, then another, and by the time we get back to the first character we’ve half-forgotten what he or she was doing. But, as with Keillor, I was mostly too busy getting swept away to notice, even though few really extraordinary things happen. It’s a sleepy plot punctuated by a few exclamation point moments.

Albert lives in Texas, but her use of English speech patterns feels authentic, and her descriptions of the lush countryside are enough to make me want to book a trip there. While we spend so much time in other characters’ heads that I’m not sure it would be entirely accurate to call Beatrix the central character in this novel, the author does take particular care when writing about this spunky but reserved artist-storyteller in her early 30s who is looking for a fresh start. A woman with a sharp sense of humor but a compassionate spirit, Beatrix is very easy to latch onto, and I found myself empathizing with her often.

I grew up with Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Jeremy Fisher and so many other wonderful Beatrix Potter characters, and Beatrix herself is someone I relate to in many ways. Even though this first volume spends more time on background and character set-up than plot, I enjoyed it very much and look forward to visiting with Beatrix again soon.