You have heard of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. You probably have read their works of Transcendentalism, either as a school assignment or to explore their ideas about self, insight and nature. But have you read about or even heard of Margaret Fuller?

Fuller was the author of several books in the mid-19th century and worked as a journalist, editor and book reviewer in New England, New York and Europe. She is said to be an inspiration for Hester Prynne and some of Walt Whitman’s poetry, and she spoke out strongly in favor of more rights for women, African Americans and inmates. She was a trailblazer and a controversial figure, and she died tragically when she was just 40 years old.

In bestselling author Allison Pataki’s latest novel, FINDING MARGARET FULLER, readers are gifted with a first-person narrative of Fuller’s fascinating life.

"[T]he prose here is deft and the story sweeping. Overall, FINDING MARGARET FULLER is a lovely tribute to a remarkable and unfortunately all-but-forgotten American giant."

In the summer of 1836, Margaret Fuller makes her way to Concord, Massachusetts. She is the guest of the great Ralph Waldo Emerson at his home, which was called Bush. Fuller caught Emerson’s attention when she wrote a tribute to his brother, Charles, who died of tuberculosis. Soon after her arrival, it becomes clear to Fuller that Emerson surrounds himself with brilliant writers and unconventional thinkers, and she is thrilled to be part of the group that will come to be known as the Transcendentalists. Thoreau works in Emerson’s gardens, and the Alcotts, including a very young Louisa May, are neighbors.

Over the years, Bush comes to be Fuller’s home away from home. There she writes and walks with the men as they ponder the role of spirituality, the meaning of truth and the importance of self-reliance. Away from Bush, she works as a writer, tutor, teacher and translator, moving from city to city and sending money home to help support her mother. As ideal as her time at Bush often is, it also can be challenging there, just as her professional life is. Emerson’s wife, Lidian, understandably is not always happy to see Fuller return, and her time in Concord tends to remind her that she is single and childless ---- which is quite shocking for the day, not to mention lonely.

When Horace Greeley sends her to Europe, she finds solace and contentment --- along with romance --- in Italy. In Rome, she meets Frédéric Chopin and his lover, the infamous George Sand, as well as the dashing young Giovanni Ossoli. Readers know from the prologue the terrible fate that Fuller meets, and Pataki foreshadows it through her nightmares and fears.

Margaret Fuller’s life was one of deep learning, hard work and adventure. The effort that she must have put into all of this is not always apparent in Pataki’s telling, where opportunities seem to come her way and her strivings and exertions are not always made explicit. The pace can be slow, more like Fuller’s walks around Walden Pond than her time agitating for the Roman Republic and then fleeing Rome for her safety. Still, the prose here is deft and the story sweeping.

Overall, FINDING MARGARET FULLER is a lovely tribute to a remarkable and unfortunately all-but-forgotten American giant.