J. M. Barrie was born on May 9, 1860, in Kirriemuir, Scotland, a village located in the Lowlands. He was the son of a poor weaver, David, and his wife, Margaret Ogilvy Barrie. Barrie was the second youngest of ten children and one of only several to survive infancy. Barrie's mother ensured that he received an education, and the playwright eventually received his M.A. from Edinburgh University in 1882. After Barrie's elder brother and Margaret Barrie's favorite son died when Barrie was six, he took it upon himself to take his brother's place. The author's relationship with his mother was unusually close and was often based in a fantasy world due to Margaret's bedridden condition. Barrie's complex relationship with his mother is thought by many to be the inspiration for the mother-worship that critics feel is central to Peter Pan.

Barrie began his writing career as a journalist...