By Amy Belding Brown
In Emily’s House, author Amy Belding Brown, pulls back the curtain on Emily Dickinson and her illustrious family. The echo of the Dickinson’s lives unfolds through the eyes of their loyal Irish housekeeper Maggie. Though it is historical fiction, Emily’s House effortlessly transports the reader back to the Homestead, the Dickinson home in the late 19th century, and embellishes anecdotes sprinkled throughout the poet’s life.
Margaret Maher and her family escaped the potato famine and relocated to Amherst, Massachusetts from Ireland. She has an adventurous spirit and plans to head west to be with her brothers mining for gold in California. But fate has a different plan when Emily Dickinson’s father presents an employment opportunity Margaret cannot refuse. Margaret’s temporary job with the Dickinson family becomes a 30-year commitment. During that time, Maggie and the mysterious and elusive Emily forge a deep bond. A bond that neither time nor space can weaken.
Emily’s House is poetry itself. The novel translates the spirit of enigmatic Emily Dickinson in a way that has the reader either falling in love with Emily again or becoming transfixed by her in a way that compels the reader to discover her poetry for the first time. Not only will the reader be enthralled by Emily’s spell, but they will want a friend like Maggie in their own lives.
