Nadia Cohen

This is a biography of children’s author and illustrator Beatrix Potter by English biographer Nadia Cohen. Beatrix grew up the wealthy daughter of a controlling Victorian family, desperate for occupation and independence, whereas her parents’ only plan for her was a good marriage. Beatrix was highly intelligent but not given formal education. She trained herself in botany and natural sciences but was rejected by the scientific community due to her gender. She then began creating the classic illustrated children’s stories she is famous for. Again she was rejected by the publishing houses, only being taken on after her own self-published efforts became a success. She suffered heartbreak when her fiancé died and retreated to the Lake District where she set herself up as a farmer, conservationist, writer and businesswoman. Beatrix married late in life and spent much effort acquiring land in the Lakes that she could leave to the National Trust which she was instrumental in establishing.

Beatrix was an amazing woman and I enjoyed reading about her life. There were times I felt I was straying into the author’s opinion rather than Potter’s but overall an easy, informative read.… (mere)

Most people are walking contradictions, but the writer Roald Dahl perhaps more than most, as Nadia Cohen shows us in her enlightening biography “The Real Roald Dahl” (2018).

The author of so many popular children's books lived an R-rated life. As a young man he attracted older women, most of them married and famous. Cohen tells how he once attended a movie premiere with actress Nancy Carroll and left with Congresswoman Clare Booth Luce, both women married and much older. Later he left his wife for a younger woman.

Although one of the most kind and generous of men, he also loved an argument and could be insufferably rude, even to guests at his own parties.

Although a literary man with no medical training, his pioneering efforts led to the invention of the Dahl-Wade-Till Valve used to save the lives of nearly 3,000 children around the world. This work was inspired by the brain damage suffered by his son, Theo.

Brain damage became a strange and tragic family curse. He had suffered head injuries as a pilot in World War II. His wife, actress Patricia Neal, had a brain-damaging stroke. His daughter Olivia died from a brain injury. Another daughter had a brain tumor.

Through it all Dahl wrote “James and the Giant Peach,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Matilda, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and other gems that children have loved for generations.… (mere)

A.A. Milne has been one of my favorite authors since I was given the poetry book, When We
We’re Very Young at the tender age of 7. My mother would help me read some of the words i struggled with and my imagination would join the escapades happening in the poems. I still read the compilation every year.

So to delve deeper into the life of Alan, especially as a youngster, was like learning about a dear friend and hearing things you never expected. It makes me sad that he felt unappreciated for his works that didn’t entail Winnie the Pooh, because I enjoyed all his writings. His mystery novel, The Red House Mystery was my first delve into British novels.
His relationship with Christopher Robin was heartbreaking, however so many family relationships are curiously tenuous, although not usually over the stories of a children’s book. The insight that more of the Hundred Acre Wood’s Christopher experiences was closer to Alan’s life and not his son’s makes the lack of relationship even more heartbreaking.
I appreciated Nadia Cohen’s extensive research, her way of writing Alan’s story and her insight into his interactions with his closest friends.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Extraordinary Life of AA Milne.… (mere)