Published July 14, 2015 by Penguin
Books
Eighteen-year-old Ada Concannon
has just been hired by the respected but eccentric Dickinson family of Amherst,
Massachusetts. Despite their difference in age and the upstairs-downstairs
divide, Ada strikes up a deep friendship with Miss Emily, the gifted elder
daughter living a spinster’s life at home. But Emily’s passion for words begins
to dominate her life. She will wear only white and avoids the world outside the
Dickinson homestead. When Ada’s safety and reputation are threatened, however,
Emily must face down her own demons in order to help her friend, with shocking
consequences.
My Thoughts…
I am fairly new to historical fiction and am finding them to
be one of my favorite genres to read.
Miss Emily is a novel about Emily Dickinson told in her own words and
that of Emily’s friend and housemaid Ada.
Their stories intertwine in alternating chapters. It is interesting to see how some of the
events are perceived by Emily and then by Ada in a different way. I enjoyed their friendship.
Spending time with Emily in her own time, her own house, and
in her own world was wonderful.
Watching her interact with her siblings and family was entertaining and
eye opening. I do not know a lot about
Emily’s history and am not sure how much of this was made up and how much is
true, but I was intrigued by her need to be alone. She stayed in the house or close to the
house for most of her time, yet she didn’t want to always be truly alone. She would sit in the kitchen with Ada just to
have her company or call on her sister-in-law to visit her just for the
company. Then she would retreat to
her room when it got to be too much for her.
While I enjoyed Emily’s storyline, Ada’s is what really
pulled me in. To leave her home and
travel to a new world then have her safety be threatened. I was upset with how Austin, Emily’s
brother, dealt with Ada and thrilled with how Emily stood by her no matter
what. Ada is the friend that Emily
needed. She managed to push Emily out
of her comfort zone, yet keep her comfortable by not pushing too hard.
Miss Emily is the perfect historical fiction book. I recommend checking it out.
Book Links
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nuala O’Connor has
worked as a bookseller, a librarian, and in a writers’ center. She was
shortlisted for the European Prize for Literature, and her short story “Peach”
was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in East Galway, Ireland, with her
husband and three children.
PRAISE
“A superb novel, I was
captivated from the first page. With gorgeous, compelling period detail and
graceful prose, Nuala O’Connorreimagines a friendship between one of
our greatest poets and her Irish maid. With uncanny insight into the expected
portrayal of a servant-mistress relationship, and in keeping with the power and
beauty of Dickinson’s poetry, O’Connor celebrates her women with
great delicacy and exuberance.”
—Kathleen Grissom,
bestselling author of The Kitchen House
“I read this wonderful
novel in a gulp. Nuala O’Connor is a gifted storyteller with a
poet’s eye for detail. We are offered a tantalizing glimpse into the private
life of one of America’s greatest poets, but for me, the real triumph is the
character of Ada, Emily’s young Irish maid. It’s Ada who is the heart of
this novel. She’s as beautifully realized as the gingerbread she so
meticulously bakes with Emily. I can’t wait to read
what O’Connor writes next.”
—Natasha
Solomons, New York Times bestselling author of The
House at Tyneford
“Beautifully written
and utterly compelling, this vivid portrait of Emily Dickinson
examines her humanity, complexity and profound relationship with words.
Told in her own eloquent voice and that of her trusted maid, MISS EMILY deftly
braids together the stories of two intriguing women in this highly accomplished
novel.”
—Cathy Marie
Buchanan, New York Times bestselling author of The
Painted Girls
“Nuala O’Connor’s MISS EMILY is
evocative, thought-provoking, and beautifully rendered; a poignant portrait of
two very different women, drawn together in unlikely friendship by a common
strength of spirit and mind. Readers will delight in this richly imagined
glimpse into the worlds—both inner and outer—of the
immortal Emily Dickinson. I wanted to race through the novel, and
yet, the language was so engrossing that I forced myself to slow down, just
enough to savor each sentence.”
—Allison
Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of The
Traitor’s Wife and The Accidental Empress
“A jewel of a
novel, MISS EMILY by Nuala O'Connor is a
fascinating, heartfelt, and captivating glimpse into the mind and heart
of EmilyDickinson, one of America’s most beloved poets, interwoven with
the story of her spirited, witty, and devoted Irish maid, Ada. With its
luminous prose and sympathetic, realistically drawn characters, you will feel
yourself irresistibly drawn into Emily’s and Ada’s private worlds with
every turn of the page.”
—Syrie James,
bestselling author of Jane Austen’s First Love and The
Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen
“This
beautifully-crafted biographical novel vividly evokes Emily Dickinson
and her world: her obsessive solitude, her sensual relationship with her
sister-in-law, her conflicted relationship with her brother, and, most central,
her companionable friendship with Ada, a spunky and superstitious Irish maid.
Alternating between the stories of Emily and Ada, the novel brims
with the charming details of their domestic life, the unfolding of a sweet
romance, yet also, ultimately, brings to light the tragic effects of a violent
reality that most often goes unmentioned, even today. This is an intensely
engaging, emotional and important story, exquisitely rendered. Brilliant!”
—Sandra Gulland,
author of the internationally bestselling Josephine B. Trilogy
“Like a Dickinson
poem, MISS EMILY seems at first a simple story of
friendship, but gradually reveals itself as a profound meditation on the human
condition. O’Connor accomplishes this unfolding, just as Dickinson
did, with her exquisite use of language. I lost myself in the beautiful
detail of 1860s Amherst, a cast of characters that leapt off the page with
life, and the constant reminder that words, properly wielded, can transcend
time, transmit love, and, above all, inspire hope.”
—Charlie
Lovett, New York Times bestselling author of The
Bookman’s Tale
“The structure of the
book is reminiscent of one of Emily Dickinson’s poems, a lyrical
dialogue between two distinct voices. Ada andEmily are divided by
class, ethnicity, learning, circumstance; but a deep empathy and shared
humanity unite them as women. This is a bittersweet story of repressed
passion, thwarted opportunity, and the selflessness that is the essence of
love.”
— Stephanie Barron, bestselling
author of the Being A Jane Austen Mystery series
“An absorbing and
provocative take on the inner life of a brilliant poet and her increasingly
shrinking universe. The Dickinson household of Amherst, Massachusetts is
complex and very odd indeed and the tension builds towards shocking
consequences for all involved. Nuala O’Connor’s prose
skillfully and lyrically creates Emily Dickinson’s voice and
that of her young Irish housekeeper who chronicles the poet’s harrowing
struggle to find the freedom to write while living a cloistered life at
home. A novel you won’t want to put down.”
—Jennifer Kaufman
and Karen Mack, authors of Freud’s Mistress
“MISS EMILY is
an intricate, intimate novel that, in its careful attention to language, pays
homage to our most American poet's extraordinary work. There are references to
that work, rewards to true Dickinson aficionados, secreted in O’Connor’s
prose, but this novel achieves a broader aim too: it tells a story of
friendship that keeps us turning the pages.”
— Kelly O'Connor McNees,
author of The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott and The
Island of Doves
“Secrets will always out. In the same way
as Emily Dickenson’s poems were once the best kept secret in
Massachusetts, NualaO’Connor’s luminous prose has long been one of
Ireland’s most treasured literary secrets. Now through her superb evocation of
19thcentury Amherst, an international audience is likely to be held
rapt by the sparse lyricism and exactitude of O’Connor’s writing. Through
a fusion of historical ventriloquism and imaginative
dexterity, O’Connor vividly conjures up—in the
real-life Emily Dickenson and the fictional Ada Concannon—two equally
unforgettable characters who pulsate with life in this study of the slowly
blossoming friendship between a delicate literary recluse and a young Irish
emigrant eager to embrace the new world around her.”
— Dermot Bolger, playwright and author
of The Journey Home and The Venice Suite, among
others
“I finished this
morning and had to write to you straight away! My goodness—what a wonderful,
wonderful book. I feel so privileged to have read it; I honestly cannot praise
this book enough. Nuala O’Connor’s beautiful writing sings from every
single page as Emily and Ada’s fascinating story unfolds. An absolute
joy to read—I will be telling everyone about this book.”
—Hazel Gaynor, New
York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home
“An original portrayal
of Emily Dickinson seen here not just as a lover of words, but
as a heroine and friend to a plucky Irish maid who casts a new and
sympathetic light on the Belle of Amherst.”
—Sheila Kohler,
author of Becoming Jane Eyre
“Nuala O’Connor casts
a keen, compassionate eye below the veneer of domesticity to illuminate the
passion, pain, and life force behind the poetry of Emily Dickinson.
Quietly elegant and moving, poignantly humane, MISS EMILY is
a rare gift.”
—Ania Szado, author
of Studio Saint-Ex
No comments:
Post a Comment