8 August 2026

When we were children, my brother and I each had one of Beatrix Potter’s famous tales. I had the ‘Tale of Peter Rabbit’ and he had ‘The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck’. They were beautifully illustrated by the author and very easy to read.

Even as children, we noticed the darkness in the tales. Peter Rabbit’s father had been chased by Mr. MacGregor – caught, skinned and baked into a pie for dinner. Jemima Puddle-Duck is lured into a shed by ‘a gentleman with a bushy tale’. She is rescued by a friendly dog but her puppies eat her eggs!

As a child, I didn’t like this development. I wanted to deny this reality. Every time we turned the page, I wanted it to be different. But Beatrix Potter’s skill at story-telling is illustrated here. She writes simply but directly. She doesn’t deny reality and that gives her tale depth.

When our children were born, my mother gave them Beatrix Potter books over a period of time. Eventually, they collected all twenty-three of her tales. We still have the collection up in the loft. 294,000 of her tales were sold last year of which 28,000 were ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit’.

How can parents be afraid to talk to their children about the darker side of human experience, especially death when writers as realistic and courageous as Beatrix Potter created a tiny library of unsentimental tales which embrace these topics simply and naturally.

The local undertaker spoke to me recently about the increase in direct cremations – coffins which are taken to the crematorium without anyone to accompany them. This is the ultimate denial of death which is anathema to Potter, Peter Rabbit  and me.