Miss Emily - Softcover

O'Connor, Nuala

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1910124559 ISBN 13: 9781910124550

Publisher: Sandstone Press, 2015

Synopsis

The American debut of an award-winning Irish writer that brings to life Emily Dickinson and will enthrall fans of Longbourn and BrooklynNuala O'Connor's enchanting 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.

About this title

Review:

Nuala O'Connor's lovely novel...pulls us in from its first limpid lines and then detonates with an explosion of power much like Emily Dickinson s poems...the novel captivates with its high emotions and rich images...Hope, Ada comments, may be small and bald at first, but then it gathers feathers to itself and flies on robust wings. So, too, does O'Connor's quietly soaring novel. -Washington Post

O'Connor brings one of America's most beloved poets to life... O'Connor is a gifted writer; not only does she bring a believable sense of poetry (clay is deathly cool around my fingers ) and self-assurance to Emily, she is also capable of conveying complex feeling succinctly, a talent shared by her historical heroine...This novel has the possibility of being a book club juggernaut. -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

O'Connor's first novel published here beautifully and convincingly evokes the startling, luminous world captured in Dickinson's poems. -Library Journal

As William Nicholson did in Amherst (2015), Irish writer Nuala O'Connor breathes new life into reclusive poet Emily Dickinson in her mesmerizing U.S. debut. Like one of Dickinson's poems, the deceptively simple narrative packs a powerful punch... Expect robust demand as Emily Dickinson always intrigues, and rumor has it that the film rights have recently been acquired. -Booklist

Intriguing...O'Connor skillfully imagines a fictional maid, 18-year-old Ada Concannon from Dublin, hired by the respected but odd Dickinson family as housekeeper and cook. Emily and Ada speak in alternating chapters, gently flowing back and forth, as this tender novel reveals their growing friendship...O'Connor takes readers deep inside the 19th-century Dickinson household. But she also has a bolder mission--to capture and explore the inner world of a secretive and mysterious genius. --Shelf Awareness

Revelatory... a moving and often engrossing tale of the bonds of friendship, the power of language, and the intricacies of the human heart. -Irish America Magazine

All aspects of the book characterization, prose, setting and storyline are in top form, setting this author apart from many who take on a rehash of a well-known and documented historical figure. Lyrical and beautifully written, this story should not be missed by fans of Emily Dickinson, or anyone simply looking for a great historical read. -Historical Novels Review

Elegantly written...lively...complex and compelling. O'Connor's portrait also pays respectful homage to Dickinson. -The Emily Dickinson Journal

O'Connor has a touch of the poet... what dark visitations bedevil our women here, with rape, social branding, sexually transmitted infection a whole range of 19th-century injustice that lives on to these days. Good on O Connor for making her readers face it and for having the plucky, poised Emily face it down. --New York Journal of Books

A superb novel, I was captivated from the first page. With gorgeous, compelling period detail and graceful prose, Nuala O'Connor re-imagines 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

MISS EMILY is a triumph of a novel, creating an utterly human and believable Emily Dickinson through the eyes of an enchanting and complex fictional Irish woman. Their story is smart and witty and harrowing and brilliantly revelatory of the interplay of life and inspiration in a nascent great artist. And all this is done in prose that has the same condensed, particularizing power of Dickinson s poetry. Nuala O'Connor has long been one of my favorite contemporary Irish writers. She will certainly find an ardently admiring American audience with this extraordinary novel. --Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler

About the Author:

Nuala O'Connor was born in Dublin in 1970 and lives in East Galway with her family. She is a well-regarded short story writer and novelist in her native Ireland. Please see her website for more details of her previous work www.nualanichonchuir.com. She has never been represented or published in the UK before. Nuala has won many fiction awards including RTÉ radio s Francis MacManus Award, the Cúirt New Writing Prize, the Jane Geske Award (USA), the inaugural Jonathan Swift Award and the Cecil Day Lewis Award. She was shortlisted for the European Prize for Literature.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sandstone Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1910124559
• ISBN 13: 9781910124550
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256