Readers young and old have embraced Barbara Cooney’s Miss Rumphius, about the lupine lady who made the world more beautiful, since its publication four decades ago. 

Harry & Hilda: Letters Home, The Sparkling Life of the Lupine Lady and the Professor Who Made It Possible is the story of the “real” Miss Rumphius, Hilda Edwards, a headstrong English girl who came to America to live with her stern and brilliant uncle, Smith College philosophy professor Harry N. Gardiner. Near the end of a long life that sparkles through a century of change, Hilda Edwards Hamlin, the girl who loved flowers, becomes Maine's legendary Hilda Lupina. 

Author Jennifer Hamlin Church - granddaughter of the "real" Miss Rumphius! - will speak on the evolution of the lupine lady as well as her labor of love on this book, which chronicles more than a century of life on both sides of the Atlantic—from two world wars and Hemingway's Paris to the start of the space age. Based on the wealth of written words they left behind, Harry & Hilda: Letters Home brings to light the remarkable lives and times of two unforgettable immigrant Americans.

Barbara Cooney, beloved children's author and illustrator, was a Pepperell resident from 1946 to 1988. As the Lawrence Library in Pepperell was featured in her popular picture book, Miss Rumphius, we are delighted to partner with the Lawrence Library (lawrencelibrary.org) for this special event!

This event will be held at the Lawrence Library at 15 Main St., Pepperell MA.