Harriet Backer loves to paint. It’s her greatest joy and pleasure. There’s nowhere she’s rather be than in her studio. There she keeps her brushes, paint tubes and canvases. The room always smells of oil paint.

This book invites you to climb the steep stairs to Harriet’s studio. She’s busy preparing for a big exhibition, but time is running out, and Harriet is working too slowly. As if that wasn’t enough, she also runs a painting school where she teaches every day. She worries that she won’t be ready in time. How will it all end?