May Gibbs became one of Australia’s most well-known and loved illustrators. Her gumnut babies have been adored by generations of children. For the first time her early life and artistic career are explored in detail. She traveled to England in a quest to develop as an artist and became an early supporter of the suffragettes. Her early paintings of wildflowers led her to discover the limitations of being a woman artist and she discovered that working hard to develop a sustaining commercial career in art was not going to be easy. One of the few women to become a commercial success, she did so by turning to fantasy and children’s illustration. This is a fascinating illustrated biography of a talented artist, complete with beautiful reproductions of May Gibbs’ work throughout.