Miss Fuller

February 27, 2012
Fact meets fiction in this intriguing historical novel expounding on the life and times of Margaret Fuller, a freethinking feminist writer and friend of Emerson and Thoreau, among others, on the Concord scene. In poet Bernard’s rendering, readers have an additional lens in Anne, a fictionalized sister of Thoreau’s, who, in her youth, attends one of Fuller’s Boston salons for ladies and then, later in life, becomes privy to a “lost letter” written from the ship that would have returned Fuller from Europe to the States had it not sunk off Fire Island, killing Fuller, her Italian husband, and their young son. Though the structure of the book feels artificial—in part because the imagined letter makes up the entire second section–the overall effect is worthwhile, bringing to light the fear of and disdain for independent, courageous women even among enlightened Transcendentalists. Though Fuller’s untimely death was marked by sadness, it is the widespread relief evocatively etched in these pages that startles: no one knew what to make of this outspoken woman of dubious virtue, and a mother at that, leaving even the most progressive minds of the time to wonder if her tragic end wasn’t something of a blessing after all.

March 1, 2012
A letter from one woman to another washes ashore. This letter details the adventurous, fantastic, revolutionary life of Margaret Fuller. But will her words unite or divide? Will anyone read her letter at all? Bernard (Romanticism: Poems, 2009, etc.) juxtaposes two lives, two paths taken by very different 19th-century women, one conventional and the other extraordinary. Attending one of Margaret Fuller's famed Conversations, Anne Thoreau, Henry's adopted younger sister, is first preoccupied by her own plain dress and awkward manners. Yet Anne is quickly entranced by the charismatic Fuller with her bold call to each woman to embrace her inner Minerva, her own feminine wisdom that should stand alongside masculine wisdom. Fuller's early feminism both attracts and frightens Anne. Indeed, the disapproving eyes of not only conventional society matrons but also her own professed friends, the men of the Transcendentalist Concord circle, shadow her constantly. After serving abroad as one of the first women foreign correspondents, Fuller and her family tragically drown as their ship founders off the coast. Henry rushes to the wreck and finds, among other things, a letter to Sophia Hawthorne. When he contacts the Hawthornes, however, Nathaniel, disturbed by reports of Fuller's unconventional behavior, refuses to allow Henry to deliver it. Intrigued by the tale, Anne begins to wonder more about Fuller. Only after her children have grown and Henry himself has died does Anne seek out and read Fuller's heartbreaking letter. The thrill of being an intrepid reporter, Anne discovers, is tempered by financial strains and illness. The price is steep, yet Fuller's accounts of love and adventure justify the cost of her unconventional life, making her watery death much more tragic. Bernard skillfully contrasts the public and private sides of Fuller, crafting a book with rich imagery, emotional depth and a poetic rhythm.

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February 15, 2012

This historical novel by novelist/poet Bernard (Pirate Jenny) focuses on the adult life and tragic death of Margaret Fuller, an early feminist best known for her Woman in the Nineteenth Century. The story is filtered through the lens of Anne Thoreau, an imagined sister of Henry David Thoreau, part of a group that befriends and then nearly shuns the maverick Fuller for her personal unorthodoxies and professional ambitions. Anne is a budding naturalist and painter whose yearnings for a life beyond marriage and motherhood are squelched by the times in which she lives. After Fuller, her husband, and their young son perish in a harrowing shipwreck, Anne's brother rescues Fuller's letters, which reveal the costs of independence. The letters also offer an antidote to the harsh judgments of Fuller's friends. Most interestingly, the effect on Anne of Fuller's public call for equality shows that Fuller's impact began with individuals and how they used her words to reenvision themselves. VERDICT Highly recommended for those interested in the life of Margaret Fuller and for those who like feminist literature such as Kate Chopin's The Awakening.--Evelyn Beck, Piedmont Technical Coll., Greenwood, SC

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2012
Poet and novelist Bernard takes an unusual approach to historical fiction in this supple and concentrated tale. The catalyst is the wrenching death of the scandalously unconventional, brilliant, and courageous Margaret Fuller, a pioneering foreign correspondent, writer, and women's rights advocate, who died, along with her Italian husband and son, in a shipwreck in sight of Fire Island after voyaging home to shore up her harshly impugned reputation. Ralph Waldo Emerson hastens to the Thoreau home to ask Henry to hurry to the coast to claim the bodies and, as Henry fervently hopes, Margaret's new manuscript. Our witness to all this and more is a wholly fictional character, Henry's much younger adopted sister, Anne, who longs to assist her naturalist brother in his studies and casts a critical eye on the strictly limited lives of women. As Henry searches and Anne keeps busy, the full complexity of Fuller's dramatic life is revealed in a journal-like letter to Sophia Hawthorne. Bernard's elegant, witty, vivid, and tragic portrait reclaims a vilified yet revered and influential thinker and visionary.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)