Soap Lady

This unique & wise book is an enchanting reflection on the odd travails of childhood. Author & illustrator Renee French has brought her unique visual gift to this tender, ferocious tale. The book was inspired by a display at the Mutter Museum in Phila. at the College of Physicians of Phila. In Dec. 1874, the well-preserved body of a woman was found in a Phila. cemetery that was being relocated. Her fat had turned to adipocere, a waxy substance similar to lye soap that can occur in fat tissues under certain burial conditions. A Phila. physician, Dr. Joseph Leidy, recognized the scientific significance of this form of natural preservation, & got permission to send her body to the Mutter Museum, where it still can be seen.