From USA Today bestselling author of Flight of the Sparrow Amy Belding Brown comes an evocative new novel about Emily Dickinson’s longtime maid, Margaret Maher, whose bond with–and ultimate betrayal of–the poet ensured Dickinson’s work would live on.
Massachusetts, 1869. Margaret Maher has never been one to settle down. At twenty-seven, she’s never met a man who has tempted her enough to relinquish her independence to a matrimonial fate, and she hasn’t stayed in one place for long since her family fled the potato famine a decade ago.
When Maggie accepts a temporary position at the illustrious Dickinson family home in Amherst, it’s only to save up enough for a ticket west to join her brothers in California. Maggie never imagines she will form a life-altering friendship with the eccentric, brilliant Miss Emily or that she’ll stay at the Homestead for the next thirty years.
In this richly drawn novel, Amy Belding Brown explores what it is to be an outsider looking in, and she sheds light on one of Dickinson’s closest confidantes–perhaps the person who knew the mysterious poet best–whose quiet act changed history and continues to influence literature to this very day.
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
We love Aunt Elizabeth, but she’s a human corset, and a tight one at that. A person needs to breathe after a week of wearing her.
I couldn’t think what she meant—it made no sense. But that’s how it was with Emily. She sometimes said things in a way made me think I should be writing down the words and saving them like gold coins.
Thank you. You always wear the perfume of thoughtfulness.
It’s hard work tending the grieving, for they don’t have their wits about them. And the dead always leave troubles behind for the living to mend.
Haven’t you ever noticed how certain scents flutter around us, Maggie! Like ribbons in a breeze.
She turned and gave me a sad smile. “It’s the transitory nature of life that makes it so sweet, don’t you think, Maggie?” she said. “The knowing each moment that it will never come again.”
I closed the window and drew the curtains so her spirit wouldn’t be coming back and making mischief. For I knew she would try. Emily had a talent for mischief and I wasn’t so foolish to think Death would be stopping her.
It was Emily’s favorite time of day, an hour before sunset when the air turns gold.
My Review:
I enjoyed this insightfully written dual timeline tale weaving fact and fiction about the enigmatic Emily Dickinson. The writing was stellar and true to the period with amusing and profound perceptions of an often-disconcerted Irish maid who was initially coerced into working in the home of the revered family. The engaging storylines crossed several of my favorite genres including women’s fiction, historical fiction, and family drama with descriptions and observations that conjured sharp visuals to my gray matter.
The Dickinsons were an odd family, each one being quite peculiar in their own way, yet Emily’s oddities were the most intriguing and sparked of brilliance. It feels an outrage that her haunting passages and clever wordcraft weren’t appreciated until after her death.
I’d never heard or read of several of the Irish phrases used, such as “wet the tea,” yet the meaning was immediately clear with writing that was easy to fall into and engaged the senses. This was my first exposure to the talented scribe known as Amy Belding Brown, but it certainly will not be my last as I was impressed and consumed by her craft and fell into a Google wormhole looking up the characters and scandals she featured. The research and prep must have been massive, as is my adoration of her mad skills.
Amy Belding Brown is the author of historical novels, including the USA Today bestselling Flight of the Sparrow, and Mr. Emerson’s Wife. A New England history enthusiast, Amy was infused at an early age with the region’s outlook and values. A graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, she received her MFA from Vermont College and now lives in rural Vermont with her husband, a UCC minister and spiritual director.
