Helen Barnrat

Although sad, the book incorporates necessary facts to combat abusive relationships and lead to the road to recovery. The striking thing about this tale is that Helen’s devotion to Beatrix Potter is a lifelong relationship and Helen draws on the power of storybooks to cope with her abuse. She admires Potter’s ability to achieve great things even though the author had grown up in a restrictive household with emotionally unavailable and manipulative parents. Potter’s resilience is imparted to Helen because of the strength her childrens’ literature characters embody. It was very interesting to see how fantasy can help someone cope with their reality.  

Talbot brings the past and the present together in this rendition of the classic story style. References to England’s historic events are crafted into the background of frames, which link the old and new centuries together. Potter’s own heritage is woven into the foundation of the story from the very beginning. The Lakeland District, Hill Top Home and Bolton Gardens all link Helen to Potter through their interconnections.

Talbot’s illustrations are what made the book so powerful. Colours are used so expertly that each feature of a character’s face reveals their nature. The underbelly of society is brought into a stark light; without sounding forced. Talbot incorporates the true everyday villains that plague our society, the rats of our society. The metaphor in this postmodern tale of likening rats to those marginalized in society is very powerful.

At the end of the story, there is Talbot’s illustrated storybook, which was so beautifully rendered that I thought it was an actual Beatrix Potter story. The characters in the novel are the human representations of those from the storybook.