I admit it, I like to read wacky books about what I like to call “adjacent characters” — people nearly famous, related to famous people, or possibly just nearby when something famous happens. So I loved Vanessa and her Sister (her sister being Virginia Stephen, later Woolf), and I thought this might be similar. It had the added appeal of an unknown-to-me scandal, much like the later material in Loving Frank, so I was hooked even before I started.

 

This is the part where you need to read the summary from the publisher, and then, try to understand that I read that when I selected it on NetGalley, but promptly forgot it until I began the book months later. So I was clueless, and shocked, even though Nicholson eases us gently into the parallel Dickinson affairs. To be fair, it was really just unbelievably modern — if by modern I can mean marriages without real rules, and not necessarily limited to one husband per wife — and that was the couple from the 1880s! The affair between Austin Dickinson (Emily’s brother) and Mabel Loomis Todd is shocking, almost unbelievable (but it really happened), and often emotionally stunning. By comparison, the affair between Alice Dickinson (no relation) and Nick Crocker is almost chaste; pure chick lit romance right down to the cheesy character names.

 

So — I did enjoy the book, but I honestly thought that Alice and Nick’s storyline was completely unnecessary. It seemed so trite, where the Dickinson affair was wholly original and well-imagined by the author, and certainly could have held my attention on its own. Seriously, some of the details in this book prove, once again, that truth is stranger than fiction.

Thanks to Net Galley for providing me a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for a review.

I spent a year at Mount Holyoke College and visited Amherst often. And one of the first places I went to was for a visit to the house and museum of Emily Dickinson (and I was living at Dickinson House at Mount Holyoke, where the Centre for Women’s Studies resides).

I’ve always been intrigued by Emily Dickinson and this novel did not disappoint me. It achieves what for me is the trademark of great historical fiction, it makes historical characters and a time and place come to life, without becoming a textbook. It creates a sense of place and it submerges the readers in an era distant from their own.

The author provides enough detail of the period and places to transport us there, and in this case I felt the major strength of the novel was its psychological insights into the minds of the characters, Emily Dickinson and the fictional character of Ada Concannon. Each one of them take turns to tell the story from their point of view, in first person, present tense, and although the differences in language and education couldn’t be wider, the two women bond over a common interest in baking and a kindness of spirit and curiosity for the other’s world and life. Emily accepts and does not question Ada’s religious beliefs and what she sees as her superstitions, and Ada is non-judgemental about Emily’s rituals, reclusiveness and life-style.

The language captures beautifully Emily’s poetry and her creative process, and it reflects the differences between the two women and the other characters around them. The relationships between Emily and members of her family and friends are understated as it would correspond to the period and there are feelings and interests hinted at but never fully developed, in keeping with the sense of propriety of the era.

If Ada’s character is partly a way of providing an outsider’s perspective into Emily’s life, it also tells the story of Irish emigration to the US by sharing different experiences and very personal ones. Ada’s troubles also help highlight some of the difficulties women would have confronted at the time, and what the general attitude towards them might have been. Although these elements might be seen as detracting from the focus of the story I felt they created a more rounded reading experience.

I particularly enjoyed the amount of domestic detail, the cooking, the descriptions of smells, tastes, textures, colours that complement Emily Dickinson’s poetry. A book to be enjoyed slowly and savoured like the sweets the poet was so fond of.

The only way this book could be more adorable is if it were also a stuffed animal.

The main character mouse in question is so flippin' cute, I found myself wishing this book were a stuffed animal, or at least came along with one so you could hug it while you were reading and maybe ask if it was ready for you to turn the page yet.

Wow. It's official. If a book is charming enough, it will turn me into a blithering idiot.

Anyway. Although the delicately expressive line drawings of Claire A. Nivola would have sufficed to win me over, Elizabeth Spires' story is outstanding. At one point, I was howling with laughter. (I'll tell you which point in a minute.)

Emmaline is a well-bred but adventurous mouse who moves into a New England house. She soon realizes that she is sharing a chamber with a most unusual housemate: Emily Dickinson.

Dickinson teaches Emmaline to love poetry and even to turn her paw to versification herself. These two shy, mischievous, nature-loving creatures communicate by leaving one another poems on bits of paper placed where no one else will find them.

Dickinson favors helpless mice over marauding cats (a fancy supported by her verse as well as by her niece's recollections), and keeps Emmaline safe from harm. In exchange, Emmaline is fiercely loyal to her dear Emily. When writer/editor Thomas Wentworth Higginson pays a visit and doesn't properly appreciate the genius of Dickinson's work, Emmaline is so furious she knocks a vase over, "missing him by a hair."

That's when I laughed. The ferocious expression the artist gives Emmaline's usually delicate features on this page is worth the price of the book, even if the rest of it weren't absolutely wonderful. The good news? It is.

Emily and Emmaline are loyal, loving friends; but eventually Emmaline realizes that it's time for her to make a choice:

I saw I must decide once and for all whether to leave the Dickinsons' – as Emily never would. For although she was content with her life's "circumference," narrow but infinitely deep, I felt stirred to see more of life.

I love that the author references the geographical smallness of Dickinson's existence while also acknowledging that this was what Dickinson had chosen, and what she needed in order to work – and her work was her life.

I'm also deeply impressed that the poetry Emmaline writes doesn't present as mediocre next to Dickinson's verse, but in fact is so good that at one point I had to check and see if one of Emmaline's poems wasn't actually one of Dickinson's.

I'm still in the middle of my Dickinson research, so I'm not sure what tragedy of ED's life Spires is referring to when she has Dickinson reacting with great agitation to the arrival of a letter. (Nerd outburst: I think it might be the death of Judge Otis Lord, but in this book ED's father is still alive when the letter arrives, and in real life Mr. Dickinson had died before Lord, who loved and was loved by Dickinson, passed on.) But the scene is beautifully handled, and shows a tender friendship between mouse and poet. After Emily falls asleep at her writing desk, Emmaline composes a lovely poem to console her, then carefully extinguishes the candle (another adorable illustration).

The next time you're at the library, check this book out and treat yourself to 15 minutes of absolute delight. Even if you've never been especially interested in Dickinson, or poetry, or mice, this book is irresistible – and it's a terrific introduction to the life and work of the great poet of Amherst.

In this book we get to meet Alice Dickinson (no relation to Emily Dickinson) as she travelers to Amherst to do some research for a screenplay about Austin Dickinson (Emily Dickinson brother) and Maud Todd's illicit love affair. Paralleled to this story we also get to follow Austin and Maud falling in love back in the 1900-century.

This is a book I have wanted to read for some time now and I can say that in the beginning of the book I had hoped that this would be a really wonderful passionate romantic book that I would love. It didn't turn out that way. I liked the book, but I didn't like love it. I just couldn't really get that invested in either of the love stories in the book. Both Austin and Maud and Alice and Nick's relationship just didn't work on a deep level for me. It didn't help either that I just couldn't get that invested in Emily Dickinson's poems either, a big part of the book's story. Maud was the one that edited and got the poems published after Emily's death and Alice is researching Austin's life and there are a lot of quotations of Emily's poems in this book, but I just don't really enjoy them very much.

Son in the end, this book was not as grand as I had hoped it to be, it was an enjoyable reading, especially in the beginning and I liked the ending. I found Williams Nicholson's writing style quite pleasing and wouldn't mind reading more books by him. But I will stay clear of Emily Dickinson, at least for now...

3 stars

Thank you Edelweiss for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

I just don't see the greatness in Emily Dickinsons poems...I read one, then I read it again...still it just words put together I just sit there thinking...wat?