Beatrix is the biography of a woman born into wealth and privilege in Victorian England. Her upbringing and presentation at the court of King Edward VII prepared her for a life vastly different from the one she ultimately had. Challenged by financial disaster, two world wars, immigration and loss of social position, Beatrix found inner strength and ultimately held her family together as they redefined themselves and rebuilt their lives in the United States.

Rodney Pain, one of Beatrix's three children, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and grew up in England and the United States. He studied medieval history at Stanford University, and later qualified as a dentist, practicing in San Francisco. He moved to Canada in the early 1970s, and turned his hand to many crafts, including house construction, blacksmithing, boat building, sculpting, gardening, cooking and writing. He now lives on Vancouver Island.