Miss Emily: A Novel

by Nuala O'Connor

An Amazon Canada Best Book of the Year, the American debut of an award-winning Irish writer that brings to life Emily Dickinson and will enthrall fans of Longbourn and Mrs. Poe and the film A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon as Emily Dickinson. 

Nuala O’Connor’s enchanting American debut novel, Miss Emily, reimagines the private life of Emily Dickinson, one of America’s most beloved poets, through her own voice and through the eyes of her family’s Irish maid.

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.

• ISBN10: 014312675X
• ISBN13: 9780143126751
• Publish Date: 14 July 2015
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: G P Putnam's Sons
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 256
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780143126751

Reviews

[Kait ✨]

i read so many great reviews of this book and the concept sounded so intriguing that i’m surprised i found it so horrible. emily dickinson sounded completely fake and not at all how i’ve always imagined the great ED. (that is the risk, though, of writing a fictionalized account of a writer.) ada, her maid, reads as trite and unrealistic, probably not helped by o’connor’s disjointed writing. all of it just was so unrealistic and irritating that i’m surprised i got through it at all, though i did skim from 30% onwards. so many people loved this, which is great, but this is one “reimagination” that i cannot in good conscience recommend.

[Lianne]

I won a complimentary copy of this book courtesy of the publishers. My full review of the novel can be found on my blog, eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2015/12/21/review-miss-emily/

Miss Emily was an interesting novel about Emily Dickenson’s friendship with her family’s new maid, Ada Concannon, recently arrived to the United States from Ireland. It’s an interesting friendship as Ada is young, outspoken, and vivacious for life whereas Emily is older and much more introverted, contented with her thoughts and her writings and the few choice friends she had. But it’s a wonderful friendship in that Emily is very supportive of her young friend, regardless of age and class, which became especially important after Ada’s attack.

The author does a wonderful job in bringing the characters to life. I thoroughly cared for both main characters and their respective plights. Ada is so young and kind and so welcoming that it was sad to read what happened to her. I loved Emily’s chapters partly because I could relate to her quite a bit and understood some of what she was going through. I also love the reflections on her writing and how important it is to her. I did feel as though this contrast between Ada and Emily sort of fell the weyside once the conflict regarding Ada’s safety and person comes to the fore, but it does show how far Emily is willing to go to help a friend despite of her own qualms about putting herself out there for people notice.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Miss Emily. I don’t know what else to say about this novel, the setting and the characters were wonderful and brought to life by the author’s writing. Readers of historical fiction will want to check this title out :)

Rating: 3.5/5