The story of Mary Poppins, the quintessentially English and utterly magical children's nanny, is remarkable enough. She was instantly hailed as a classic, then became a household name when Julie Andrews stepped into the role in Disney's hugely successful film. Now she is a Broadway sensation all over again. But the story of Mary Poppins's creator, as this first biography reveals, is just as unexpected and remarkable. Australian journalist Pamela Lyndon Travers came to London in 1924. She became involved with theosophy and traveled in the literary circles of W. B. Yeats and T. S. Eliot. Most famously, she clashed with Walt Disney over the film adaptation. As tart and opinionated as the big-screen Mary Poppins was cheery, her love of mysticism and magic shaped her life as well as the character of the clipped, strict and ultimately mysterious nanny. She fervently believed that "everyday life is the miracle."