Amherst

by William Nicholson

From an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and the author of Motherland, a novel about two love affairs set in Amherst—one in the present, one in the past, and both presided over by Emily Dickinson.

Alice Dickinson, a young advertising executive in London, decides to take time off work to research her idea for a screenplay: the true story of the scandalous, adulterous love affair that took place between a young, Amherst college faculty wife, Mabel Loomis Todd, and the college’s treasurer, Austin Dickinson, in the 1880s. Austin, twenty-four years Mabel’s senior and married, was the brother of the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson, whose house provided the setting for Austin and Mabel’s trysts.

Alice travels to Amherst, staying in the house of Nick Crocker, a married English academic in his fifties. As Alice researches Austin and Mabel’s story and Emily’s role in their affair, she embarks on her own affair with Nick, an affair that, of course, they both know echoes the affair that she’s writing about in her screenplay.

Interspersed with Alice’s complicated love story is the story of Austin and Mabel, historically accurate and meticulously recreated from their voluminous letters and diaries. Using the poems of Emily Dickinson throughout, Amherst is an exploration of the nature of passionate love, its delusions, and its glories. This novel is playful and scholarly, sexy and smart, and reminds us that the games we play when we fall in love have not changed that much over the years.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Historical, Poetry, Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction

289 pages, Hardcover

First published February 10, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

William Nicholson was born in 1948, and grew up in Sussex and Gloucestershire. His plays for television include Shadowlands and Life Story , both of which won the BAFTA Best Television Drama award in their year; other award-winners were Sweet As You Are and The March . In 1988 he received the Royal Television Society's Writer's Award. His first play, an adaptation of Shadowlands for the stage, was Evening Standard Best Play of 1990, and went on to a Tony Award winning run on Broadway. He was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay of the film version, which was directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.

Since then he has written more films - Sarafina, Nell, First Knight, Grey Owl , and Gladiator (as co-writer), for which he received a second Oscar nomination. He has written and directed his own film, Firelight ; and three further stage plays, Map of the Heart , Katherine Howard and The Retreat from Moscow , which ran for five months on Broadway and received three Tony Award nominations.

His novel for older children, The Wind Singer, won the Smarties Prize Gold Award on publication in 2000, and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2001. Its sequel, Slaves of the Mastery , was published in May 2001, and the final volume in the trilogy, Firesong , in May 2002. The trilogy has been sold in every major foreign market, from the US to China.

He is now at work on a new sequence of novels for older children, called The Noble Warriors . The first book, Seeker , was published in the UK in September 2005.The second book, Jango, in 2006 and the third book NOMAN, will be published in September 2007.

His novels for adults are The Society of Others (April 2004) and The Trial of True Love (April 2005).

He lives in Sussex with his wife Virginia and their three children.

from williamnicholson.co.uk

Reviews

[Angela M · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the things that appealed to me about this book was the chance to get reacquainted with some of the poetry of Emily Dickinson, which I hadn’t read since college. Some of her poems are strategically placed within the story and I certainly was in awe again as the historical parts unfolded, and we eventually see just how prolific Dickinson was, leaving thousands of verses behind. One of the things that I loved was how Emily appeared; well not really, she was mostly behind closed doors, but through the poems and in conversations with her siblings. While the novel focuses, at least in the historical segments on the illicit affair that Emily’s brother Austin had with Mabel Todd, it was enlightening to me to learn how the poems came to be published and the role that Mabel Todd played in this.

The novel consists of alternating chapters covering the 1880’s time frame when the affair took place and the present day story of Alice Dickinson (no relation) who travels from England to Amherst to research her idea for a screenplay about Austin and Mabel’s affair. As frequently happens in these stories which blend the past and the present, I was more taken with the old story than the present one.

Mabel and her husband David seem to have what we today would call an open marriage and David not only knows about the affair, but encourages it, probably because he’s had several of his own. Emily and her sister Vinnie help Austin and Mabel by providing a place for them to meet at their home. It was surprising voyeuristic at times, with Emily behind a door as Austin and Mabel meet and David’s interest in witnessing their love

Alice Dickinson’s story was just not realistic or sincere enough for me. She meets Nick Crocker, a professor and after knowing him for about three minutes ( well three days actually) thinks she’s in love with him. These chapters of the novel for me were filled with melodrama and I could not warm up to any of these people. One reason is that I never felt I knew them, as there seems to be less time spent with them – just few days versus the past story which covers years..

I can only say that I liked it, but did not love it. If you love Emily Dickinson’s poetry, you may be interested.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley.

[Magdalena aka A Bookaholic Swede · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book we get to meet Alice Dickinson (no relation to Emily Dickinson) as she travels to Amherst to do some research for a screenplay about Austin Dickinson (Emily Dickinson brother) and Maud Todd's illicit love affair. Paralleled to this story, we also get to follow Austin and Maud falling in love back in the 1900-century.

This is a book I have wanted to read for some time now and I can say that in the beginning of the book I had hoped that this would be a really wonderful passionate romantic book that I would love. It didn't turn out that way. I liked the book, but I didn't love it. I just couldn't really get that invested in either of the love stories in the book. Both Austin and Maud and Alice and Nick's relationship just didn't work on a deep level for me. It didn't help either that I just couldn't get that invested in Emily Dickinson's poems either, a big part of the book's story. Maud was the one that edited and got the poems published after Emily's death and Alice is researching Austin's life and there are a lot of quotations of Emily's poems in this book, but I just don't really enjoy them very much.

So in the end, this book was not as grand as I had hoped it to be, it was an enjoyable reading, especially in the beginning and I liked the ending. I found Williams Nicholson's writing style quite pleasing and wouldn't mind reading more books by him. But I will stay clear of Emily Dickinson, at least for now...

Thank you Edelweiss for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

[MaryannC Victorian Dreamer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I so badly wanted to like this but I just couldn't stay with it. I liked the history of David and Mabel Todd and Austin Dickinson but the parallel love story of Alice and Nick just wasn't grabbing me. Maybe it was because Mr. Womanizer Nick decided he could fall in love after all and Maybe I just didn't like his character, but this just wasn't for me.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Amherst" is a new take on exploring the story of Emily Dickinson, the genius, recluse, and "the myth." This book merges two story lines -- a historical fiction tale of Emily's brother, Austin Dickinson and his lover Mabel Todd; as well as a modern day plot of advertising executive Alice Dickinson who visits Amherst from the UK to research for her screenplay about Emily. There she meets British ex-pat Nick.

The historical tale of Austin Dickinson and Mabel Todd is fascinating and well done. Although each married to other people, Austin and Mabel fall deeply in love with each other. Mabel's husband actually encourages this relationship, while Austin's wife, understandably, vehemently opposes the two spending any time together. It's a complicated relationship, to be sure, and readers who like books where there's a thin line between what is morally right and wrong will appreciate wrestling with whether Austin and Mabel should have followed their desires.

Although they never meet face-to-face, Emily Dickinson and Mabel develop a relationship via letters and the written word. Ultimately, the world has to thank Mabel Todd for tirelessly working to have Emily's poems published after Emily's passing (after meeting rejection after rejection).

While the historical story line of "Amherst" is like a delicacy to be savored, the modern day story line will likely leave readers with a tummy ache. This story line is unbelievable and melodramatic. Main character Alice is somewhat likable, but her counterpart Nick is a navel-gazing, narcissistic, man-boy who is supposed to be "deep," but only comes across as a spoiled, vain person who needs to grow up. I'm not sure if that's what the author intended, but I had not one ounce of sympathy for the character. Whatever likability Alice had disappears when she goes on and on about "being in love" with Nick ("He makes me happy. Oh! He makes me happy!") after about two days. Sexual tension between the characters? Yes. Love? No way.

The modern-day story line is a drag on the whole book. I listened to this on audio. I suppose if one was reading it, s/he could just skip the modern day story line and have a much better reading experience. 1.5 stars for the modern day story line. 4 stars for the historical storyline. 3 stars over all for the book.

[Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!}]

DNF on page 21. Nope. This book is not for me. I hate the writing, I hate the characters. And for those reasons I hate the plot. Bye.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thinking of rereading, after watching the Dickinson Series on Apple TV+.

[Desirae · Rating 2 out of 5]

 

No offense to William Nicholson but reading this book was painful...

Really, really painful.

Let's start with Alice:



What a spinless, churlish, twot. First off, she's a normal British twenty-something with a nodding passion for Emily Dickinson (Alice's last name is Dickinson, but she's no relation). And after convincing her step-daddy's friend that she has a great idea for a screenplay she funds her own trip to Amherst, Massachusetts to do research. Apart from this, she's casually dangling her previous boyfriend Jack along on a thinly veiled string and using his connections to meet up with one of his moms ex-boyfriends who is obsessed with Emily Dickinson.

PROBLEM #1: I never felt like Alice had any business writing a screenplay. Her credentials sound ridiculous and I thought it was laughable. Even from the beginning I was never fully invested in this as a driving force in her story.

PROBLEM #2: The story is less about research and more about sex. Firstly, she mops about the pain of her former/current relationship with Jack. He tells her, flat out, that she broke his heart, yet she later tells Nick that "no one cried" after the breakup. She uses him, but he let's her. As pathetic as that relationship sounds, now we move onto creepy Nick (who's Jack's mothers former lover) who spends the first half of Alice's story sleeping with a gaggle of college girls, despite his already being married/separated/divorced from his wife, before Alice let's her earlier hostility about this go so she can sleep/fall in love with him.

Did you get all that?

PROBLEM #3: Nick suddenly being suicidal...? Though I didn't see that coming, I thought it didn't match up to the Nick that we had previously seen.

AND THE ALICE AND JACK KINDA GET BACK TOGETHER IN THE END...

WTF


Besides all this we have the love affair of Mabel and Austin



Who's sexual explorations in the dinning room with Emily listening in on the other side of the door inspired Alice to write her screenplay.

One of the major themes that disgusted me about this book was the "free love" mentality of almost every female character:

A.) Alice
B.) Peggy
C.) Mabel
D.) Lavinia
E.) Emily

No one seems to care or react strongly that they are cheating or being cheated on.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a prude, but one situation such as this would have been fine, but all the characters acting like this felt really fake, and dare I say, "how men wish women would act about sex." The only woman that I felt had any real basis in reality was Sue.

I never felt any connection with either romantic relationship, but being that Mabel and Austin's relationship was the one meant to pull the rest of the story along I was doubly disappointed in it.

The only thing that the author did well was Emily, who is mystifying and unreachable here, aping her persona of "the myth" which she was referred to as even when she was alive. There's a slight hint of an erotic leaning from Emily toward Mabel but sadly, like so many things here, it just wasn't explored.

In closing: TEAM SUE!!

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed. As a lifelong Emily scholar and fan who knows all of this material very well, I was fervently eager to read this novel. In my opinion, the dual storylines are not successful or satisfying. I found some elements of the Mabel & Austin storyline interesting and entertaining, but the modern-day Alice & Nick relationship was predictable and tedious and unnecessary. It adds and illuminates nothing. Overall, the novel is a shallow and superficial dramatization of real-life people in Amherst who were emotionally and intellectually complex, spiritually complicated, fiercely passionate, deep thinkers and deep feelers, who viewed the world through their own unique, provocative lens. Nicholson is not up to the task. These are emotionally rich, complicated people tangled in complex relationships living in the post-Civil War era that was a tipping point for the nation and a blossoming of new philosophic thought and creative expression. Someday, someone will write a glorious novel about it. Unfortunately, this one isn't it.

[Kathryn Burak · Rating 2 out of 5]

A screenwriter comes to Amherst to research the story of the love affair between Emily Dickinson's brother and the woman who brought her poetry to the public eye--a woman Emily Dickinson never met in person. The screenwriter, Alice, falls for Nick, an older, failed Amherst College English professor. I was so intrigued by the cinematic premise and the possibilities--but the film-making parts are left out (mostly, more on that in a second).

This book has a good sense of the history around the Dickinson family, and lots of Emily Dickinson's poetry is folded into the parallel story lines. Bravo to Mr. Nicholson for researching so many details--down to street names and sub shops in the town of Amherst and on backwards in history. The two stories--the historical love affair between Austin Dickinson and Mabel Loomis Todd--and the contemporary love story between Alice and Nick--each give the write a chance to discuss many themes related to love, possession, ideal love, romantic love, everlasting love, and occasional love. This may be just the sort of book for some people who like ideas before language and story line.

The language the author uses makes the history seem more like history than fiction, to me. He's at his best when describing the scenes that might be included in Alice's screenplay--what the camera might be showing in the cinematic version of the story. This is remarkable writing for many reasons--the language, the visuals, and that in these parts, Emily Dickinson seems to be a breathing person--not just a symbol. So much more could have been done with Nicholson's abilities to personify and portray this mysterious character.

Other bits of the prose are problematic. Sometimes he shifts into reading Alice's thoughts in an awkward first-person moment or two. Other times, during the dialogue, I couldn't tell who was speaking. The characteristics and sensibilities of the characters seemed interchangeable. Mr. Nicholson didn't take the time to craft personality out of the characters' speech. This is a missed opportunity in such a potentially rich and sexually charged book. What the characters talk about when they talk about love must have many layers--flirtation, sincerity, vulnerability, passion. How they speak is as important as what they say. I wrote this off as a screenwriter's shortcut--leaving the actors and the director to make decisions about portrayal might be what a good screenwriter should do. Not so for a novelist.

Along those lines, I loved the idea of Nick and Alice as a couple, but I wanted to get more out of their relationship--more than just a few good days of sex (really good sex). There is no apparent reason for Alice to fall for Nick--other than the fact that he's known all over town for his love affairs with women of all ages. So, does that mean Alice is shallow? I don't know much about her, so I don't know how this affair fits into her life, other than it's another experience for her. It almost seems like research. It's nice that she has some good physical attraction and that they share a brief sweet affair, but the story doesn't move beyond the surface into something deeper. In this way, the story is romantic, but not deeply.

In general, this story has a lot of ambition. A great deal of my interest was in these ideas about love and how a love story reaches its conclusion. Such a good question Mr. Nicholson asks--worthy of literature! This is Alice's great question. Sadly, I felt Mr. Nicholson was too interested in concluding his other stories (5 of which had roots that led to the story in AMHERST), and let Nick-and-Alice's and Austin-and-Mabel's stories stay on one level rather than transcending their plot lines.
If you like a lot of history, some scandals imbedded inside the historical details, and you like a simple, very simple, romance--these two elements blend well in this book. The added bonus for me was the poetry--though it sometimes stopped the plot rather than progressing it. I was willing to deal with that for the artistry.

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Original review can be found at http://kristineandterri.blogspot.ca/2...
2.5 stars

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from Simon & Schuster via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

This book tells two different stories at the same time. There is the story of Austin and Mabel from the past and Alice and Nick from the present. It is told in alternating chapters and there are slight similarities between the two stories.

I quite enjoy stories that go from present to past and as usual I found the historical portion of the plot much more interesting than the present. In fact, I could take or leave Alice and Nick and was indifferent to their story. I felt no connection to them and actually feel that the book would have been better served without them in it. I found that the direction their story turned towards the end left a bad taste in my mouth. It kind of ruined the rest of the story for me. I just wasn't interested enough in the two characters to enjoy their journey.

My rating is solely on the historical part of the book that tells of Austin and Mabel. I didn't know a great deal about Emily Dickinson's brother so I was quite fascinated. The story is taken from their love letters and diaries and I feel like it read like it too. Although I did find it interesting it didn't really give me anything more than what I could get out of just reading those entries. It read a little like journal entries and didn't flow like a story.

To sum it up I guess I could say that I craved a little more from Austin and Mabel and instead I got way to much of Alice and Nick.

[Mary-Ellen Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following from his critically acclaimed 2014 novel Reckless, William Nicholson – also a playwright (notably of Shadowlands) and a scriptwriter (Gladiator and Les Misérables) brings another story of passion to life as he recounts the love affair between Austin Dickinson, the brother of the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson and the young, charismatic Mabel Todd, the woman who is single-handedly responsible for convincing skeptical male publishers to bring Emily’s poetry into the world.

It is clear that Nicholson is a lover of Emily’s poetry; moreover, he has a fascination with the history of the Dickinson family, particularly the passionate adulterous affair of Austin and Mabel. By combining his narrative with extracts of extant correspondence, diary entries, and letters, as well as Emily’s passionate poetry, Nicholson creates a firm historical foundation on which to imaginatively recreate the historical epoch and personalities involved.

Nicholson positions this alongside a contemporary narrative, featuring a young woman called Alice Dickinson (no relation) who arrives in New England to undertake research for a screenplay based on the Dickinson-Todd affair. Alice also finds herself caught up in a love affair with an older man.

Alternating between these parallel stories, Nicholson delineates on Emily’s part in the affair and reflects on her attitude to sex and passion and, ultimately, to his own attitudes about the human condition in the context of love, particularly love that flies in the face of convention. The Lovers of Amherst is a multi-layered investigation into passionate love in all its delusion and grandeur. This is a beautiful read.

[Deborah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was just awful. Would-be British screenwriter Alice Dickenson (no relation) visits Amherst to research her project: the affair of Austin Dickenson, poet Emily's married brother, with Mabel Loomis Todd, a much younger married woman. She is convinced not only that this was a true passion but that much of the sexual action took place in Emily and Lavinia's house with the sisters getting hot and bothered listening outside the parlor door. And let's not forget that the affair had the approval of Mabel's husband, who liked to watch while masturbating. Alice is invited to stay in the guest suite of a much older married professor--and you can guess what goes on there. Nicholson tries to make a passionate parallel between the two affairs, one of which went on for years while the other lasted a few days. Oh, and let's not forget that on the modern couple's first meeting, his friend tells Alice, "Don't fuck him." I should have known at that point where this book would be a real loser. I'm no prude about sex in novels, but I prefer it to be part of the story, not the reason for it. Nicholson includes quotes from Dickenson's poetry and Austin and Mabel's letters, plus a bibliography, in hopes of convincing his readers that this is a scholarly, well-researched novel. It doesn't work, especially since his modern characters, Alice and Nick, are both silly, selfish, and totally unlikable. Spare yourself the pain of reading this one.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I may be too critical of this novel because I looked forward to reading it so much. It has so many elements that I enjoy:
. . . an historical setting and notable figure (Emily Dickinson);
. . . a modern counterpart researching the notable personality;
. . . an opportunity to learn something . . .

But, it let me down. The premise was similar to one of my very favorite novels, Posession, by A.S. Byatt but Nicholson's book lacked the depth and the lyrical quality I hoped for. It felt repetitive and boring despite its slightly salacious subject matter.

I am grateful to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read an early copy of this book and only wish that I could have responded in a more favorable manner. It didn't make me want to seek out either the poetry of Emily Dickinson or a biography of her, and I put the book down without finishing it.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book I've read WITHOUT consulting the masses on Goodreads. I have cast away a lot of books due to reviews that were less than 4 stars.

This time though, I liked the premise of the book, and didn't want to ruin it for myself before giving it a chance. And I devoured it.

My favorite thing about this book is how it's NOT a great love story. Sure, it makes you think that is exactly what it us, two parallell love stories set in different times. And there's an element of that, but it's not the main themes. This search for self, and how the findings are so different for each person. And I won't spoil the end, but it was poetic, classy, and artistic.

[Linden · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of two love affairs, one of which is based on historical fact, that of Austin Dickinson (Emily's brother) and Mabel Todd. The other is set in modern times and mirrors the past affair. What I like about Nicholson's novels is that the characters recur in most of them. In this book we have Alice and Jack, Nick and Laura, who have featured in previous books at different ages. I liked the modern characters much better than the historical characters. 3.5 stars.

[Nicholas George · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel presents a thought-provoking pairing of two stories: one of a young Englishwoman coming to America to research a screenplay on Emily Dickinson, and the other the story of Dickinson herself--or, more to the point, of her brother Austin and his extramarital relationship with Mabel Todd, the woman who eventually brought Dickinson's poems to the world. To call the two stories 'love' stories seems inadequate, because Nicholson is writing about love here in its largest sense--not just romance between individuals, and sex, but also about one's relationship with themselves, their passions and the world around them. It's all very nicely done, but I was expecting--even with a generous sampling of Dickinson's work included--more of a bite at the end.

[Laurel-Rain · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Alice Dickinson takes time off from her job in advertising to write a screenplay about the late Emily Dickinson (no relative), she is excited. Her research takes her to Amherst, Massachusetts, and she almost immediately meets Nick Crocker, a fifty-something academic who has a bit of a reputation.

Somehow she finds herself staying in his huge house, and despite all of her best laid plans, she is soon involved in a love affair with him. But where is his wife, and why is she absent?

"Amherst: A Novel" is an engaging story that sweeps back and forth through time, showing the reader the little circle of friends (and some enemies) that surround Emily and her sister Vinnie, as well as her brother Austin.

Austin is married to Sue, but unhappily...and with Emily and Vinnie's encouragement, he is soon involved with Mabel Todd, who seems to be in an open relationship with her husband David.

From journals she discovered in her research, Alice feels almost as if she is right there with the primary players in the scandalous and sexy liaisons of the past. Could the people from that time have been as free and easy as they seemed? Would her own values change as she learned more about them? And could her peek into the past have released her from her own inhibitions?

I did enjoy how Mabel seemed to be a champion for Emily's poems, discovered after her death in a stuffed drawer. When some publishers turned her away, she kept searching until she finally found one. I liked this part of the story as much (or more) than the love affair, which may have been a bit scandalous for the times, but was nothing I hadn't read about before, with other players. In some ways, that part of the story lagged for me, and even the alternating time periods didn't really engage me.

Then, near the end, as Alice and Nick meet again after their love story ends, as Alice seeks closure, Nick's thoughts to her on love seemed interesting to me:

"...We think there's someone out there who can make us happy, someone who'll make us complete, but that's not how it works. We think not getting what we want is the problem, but it's the wanting that's the problem. We want the whole world to feed us...There's no end to its hunger. We end up as slaves, chained to our hunger, doomed to service its bottomless need forever. There's only one way out of that. You have to break the chain..."

I liked that twist on love, and in the end, Alice discovered a way of framing the events of her story about Mabel and Austin to give them an intriguing slant. These last moments elevated my take on the story to 4 stars.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young woman from England, Alice Dickinson, is on leave from her job to visit Amherst for a few weeks to research her idea to turn the love affair between Emily Dickinson's brother Austin and a married woman, Mabel Loomis Todd, into a screenplay. It isn't clear whether she actually has any talent or prior success in this line of work. Alice is invited by Nick, ~30 years older than her and also a Dickinson scholar at the local university, to stay at his home while she conducts her research. Nick was the former lover of Alice's former boyfriend's mother - how's that for a connection! This is the first improbable act - why would a young woman agree to stay at the home of someone she barely knew? She finds out that he's known around town as a womanizer, and vows not to fall for his charms, though she admits to herself that he's handsome and charismatic. When she finds out that his wife isn't actually in residence, alarm bells go off, but still she stays. Predictably, she falls for him and has an affair, though he's as old as her father and she knows of his reputation. Perhaps she was under the influence of Emily Dickinson's poetry and the Mable-Austin love affair.

The novel alternates between the time of Emily Dickinson and the present, with the parallel love stories told in alternate chapters. The Mabel/Austin love story is more interesting, however I don't know how historically accurate the retelling was. The aspect of Emily Dickinson being a voyeur, peeping through the keyhole, at her brother and Mabel making love in the dining room is rather creepy, and I would like to think that it is exaggerated conjecture.

It's easy to predict that the unsuitable affair between Alice and Nick will fizzle out, and indeed the book sort of fizzles out in the final chapters. The ending is rather incomplete, since you don't find out whether Alice did manage to create a screenplay after all. It appears that the author has set this up for a sequel. In fact in the "Author's Note" at the end of the book he writes "Attentive readers will find many more seeds which I've planted, waiting for their turn to flower."

The feature of the book that I most enjoyed was the skillful use of Emily Dickinson's poetry woven throughout the story. I think the last time I really spent any time with her poetry was in college when I was majoring in literature, and that was several decades ago; perhaps it is time to break out the old anthologies !

[Doctordavid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emily and Alice are unrelated Dickinsons, centuries and life-styles apart yet connected by more than coincidental surnames.
Alice, 21st century film maker visits Amherst to research Emily, poetess and the as yet unchartered love affair of Austin Dickinson and Mabel Todd, wife of close colleague. Emily, staunch spinster of this parish, dressed in her virginal (bridal?) white may well have spent her time outside the door of the dining room listening to the lustful, passionate recreations of her brother and Mrs Todd... or should that be - - -

The book written in two (or three) time zones, since Emily tentatively speaks in the intervening passages in a kind of short lines breathless prose,
sees the modern girl's approach and assimilation of the now Disneyfied Amherst with its reconstructed "Homestead" complete with headless model wearing one of the famous white dresses behind a glass case on the stairs and the historic Emily peering from behind sofa backs and behind doors staying, for the most part resolutely mute

I am always tempted when writing about Emily Dickinson to break out in a rash of her eccentric and so easily recognisable punctuation dashes as - if - she - needed - a breather between each exquisitely turned word or phrase
When reading a book so superbly researched as this it is so easy to get lost in the period and frustrating when you are demaded to move to the "other time". The modern story, as does the historic, have the delicious whiff of "Peyton Place" - small town sexual shenanigans, all very hush hush and all the more delicious for the scandalous goings on.

This is my first William Nicholson, though not my first visit to Amherst. I suspect the Bordens lived not far away, and I am impressed by his wonderfully laid back style of writing which brought to mind the great Morgan Forster and his Edwardian delight at peering from behind curtains.

Highly recommended, though I am certain that Mr Nicholson already has a great following

[Chantal Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a faithful reader of William Nicholson, so I'm afraid I can't offer any comparisons in that way to readers who are. But I've read enough of his works to know I'd be in skilled hands with this story.

It's a reasonably short novel, fairly compelling and happily returned to. To my shame I admit I knew next to nothing about Emily Dickinson except her being a renowned poet, but Nicholson really does do justice to the poetry of hers that he quotes, even getting me to speak the verses out aloud (lovely rhythms) as I read. In fact, I'd love to actually see the film of the screenplay that Alice works on in the story!

The parts of the story set in the past felt odd, in a way, often going at such a quick pace so as to be impersonal and outside of the characters. When Emily Dickinson dies (this event covered perfunctorily, perhaps reflecting the idea that Emily alive and Emily dead were not that different), Mabel Todd feels irritated that the poem chosen for her eulogy doesn't fit her at all; but I was surprised that Mabel didn't seem to express any anguish at never having had the chance to meet Emily before her death, given that apart from loving Austin, engineering a meeting with the poet was her life's ambition. I found Mabel herself difficult to like, too; she's so hopelessly naive about the very society she's grown up in that she seems at times to have the mental age of a child (and I mean that literally).

My reading tastes don't tend towards examinations of love, which this book is (and isn't), so while I enjoyed the story, it was the ragged sort of ending that left me feeling fully satisfied, a few narrative quibbles aside. Perfect endings don't do justice to life.

[Kate Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fictional look at the poet Emily Dickinson and her siblings focuses on her brother's affair with a much younger woman (both married), presented in alternate chapters along with a 21st century screenwriter going to Amherst to research the family and getting involved in a brief affair with an older man herself. The Dickinson story was of much greater interest than the two contemporary characters, who were annoyingly verbose and prone to excessive navel-gazing. What is love? What is happiness? Can one find lasting happiness in love? and so on. Too much theory in the head and not enough practice from the heart.

The Dickinson story came alive more successfully, and is based on fact. Unlike the modern-day lovers who begin their affair casually and soon after meeting, Austin Dickinson and his lover-to-be Mabel Todd spent a great deal of time slowly getting to know each other and thinking carefully about possible repercussions before beginning an affair. Austin and Mabel were much more sympathetic and fully realized.

A bonus is the "local color" about Amherst and the surrounding area. Overall, though, this is not nearly as skillfully rendered as similar novels I've read, such as those by Jennifer Lee Carrell and Charlie Lovett, that imagine well-known authors alongside parallel stories of contemporary sleuths or researchers.

[Jo Dervan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a historical fiction story about Emily Dickinson's family as well as the story of Alice Dickinson (no relation) who wants to write a play about Emily's brother, Austin his girlfriend, Mabel Todd. Alice travels from her home in England to Amherst to gather information for the scipt. Alice learns of the relationship between the married middle aged Austin and his much younger also married girlfriend, Mabel. Emily and her sister lived in the Dickinson family home and it was ere that the unhappily married Austin and Mabel met for their trysts. Mabel never met Emily who was always hiding in other parts of the house. However when Emily died and her sister found thousands of poems she wrote, Mabel was the one who edited them and had them published. Even after Austin died, Mabel continued to edit the works and this caused problems with the Dickinson family and Austin's widow.
The story of Alice and her relationship with her former boyfriend, Jack, and Nick, an older man who had been Jack's mothers boyfriend, is not as interesting as the story about the Dickinson family and Mabel Todd. In fact Alice's romantic adventures are chock full of Dickinson poems but detract from the main story.

[Spencer Keasey · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I've committed to finishing a book, I find it hard to give it less than 3 stars. It's either a book I am going to finish because I want to (3 stars), need to (4 stars), or because it's helped alter my perspective on life (5 stars). I wrote a blog yesterday that included a mention of Amherst for a rather small incidental character and something that happens to her which affected me profoundly. Then I finished the book later that day and experienced a moment of synchronicity which threw me for a loop, helped alter my perspective, and helped me heal a little. I want to give it 5 stars because of the affect it had on me, but that affect was strictly personal, not a big enough part of why this book exists or of its plot. If you happened to read my blog yesterday and found something to which you could relate in it, then this book might surprise you in how deeply its light can reach into your darker recesses.

[Murat Aydogdu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. I am quite poetry-illiterate, so Emily Dickinson passed me by until recently. I stumbled upon A Quiet Passion, a great movie about her (with Cynthia Nixon in the leading role) a few months ago and I have been living near Amherst temporarily last few months. So, when I saw this book in the bargain section at a bookstore in Montreal, I decided to read it.

The book goes back and forth between present day, where a young woman arrives in Amherst to do research about a screenplay she wants to write about Dickinson and the past to Emily's life, with a focus on the love affair between her brother Austen and Mabel Todd. Both were married at that time. So there's love, heartbreak, intrigue, weirdness (Emily was a really odd and interesting person, it seems) and a bunch of Dickinson poems spread throughout the book. It was a pleasant read for me.

Emily Dickinson's house, now a museum, is closed for the winter but reopens in March. I want to go and see it.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sigh. While the use of Emily Dickenson's poetry was well done, the modern romance was thin and I didn't much care about the characters. Reads like a screenplay the author is going to try to turn into a movie, which is amusing since that's the premise of the main character's efforts. One thing I'll give the author: he did actually spend some time in Amherst, although he beats you over the head with that fact in his use of local details (e.g., the main character goes to Rao's for coffee. Yes, Rao's exists and they roast their own coffee, but the author's mention of it seemed like a product shot in a movie, almost a mini-advertisement.) The whole effort just came across as a thin romance movie.

[John Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lovers in question are the married middle aged brother of the poet, Emily Dickinson and the young wife of an academic, recently come to live in Amherst, New England. This adulterous relationship which occurs in the 1880s is particularly unconventional. It has the blessing of Emily who we do not see but is present throughout much of the book where she is referred to as “The Myth”.

Partly set in the time of the principal historical characters – 1880s and then 120 years or so later when a young writer comes to Amherst to research and, hopefully, write a screenplay around the story of this strange relationship. That was her intention...The outcome is further 'research' on more than one level.

Beautifully written with Emily's poems strategically placed throughout.

[Meichler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this and I thought I would, given how much I love Amherst, having gone to school there. I didn't. I also didn't finish it, which normally would prevent me from reviewing but in this case I wish I hadn't wasted the time so I'll share the opinion. Terrible characters, boring story, too long winded. I get the author was trying to draw out 2 different affairs, in 2 different times, in 1 beautiful town. He failed because what I read was 2 boring stories that I didn't care about all in the shadow of Emily Dickinson who is a fascinating character - everywhere but this book. Maybe the ending was amazing. I'm okay not knowing.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alice in the 20th century wants to write a screenplay about the passionate love affair between Emily Dickinson's married brother Austin and a married much younger woman, Mabel. This seemed like the author really wanted to explore all the many variations and pitfalls of love: is it real? Can it last? Can you love more than one person? Is great passion killed by familiarity? The theme was interesting, but the story began to drag amidst all this discussion between various characters. Interesting that the ending wasn't about romantic love at all, though, but a different kind of love.

[Pam Mooney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the dual-time-period story as well as the well researched historic and poetic detail. I found myself drawn into both worlds and continually wanting to know more. I enjoy a book that captures my attention and compels me to do my own research to learn more. A good read.

[Theresa Cioffi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this audio book. I loved the British vs American accents. It helped move the book along. I'm not sure I loved any of the characters but I didn't really dislike them either. Kind of a lukewarm review huh?