Afternoons With Emily

A perfect piece of prose, published posthumously.

From the pen of Rose MacMurray flows the flawless fiction of Miranda Chase and her friendship with one Miss Emily Dickinson. There is not a word out of place in this engaging story. The pace is steady, and the journey is one of the heart. We join Miranda when she is still called Ara, and just a wee child with the threat of consumption hanging over her. Her odyssey takes us to Barbados and Amherst and all over again. Growing and learning through love, war, and loss Miranda develops a friendship of sorts with renowned poet Emily Dickinson. Though hard-pressed to call it a frienship of equals, Miranda was nevertheless one of the few souls Emily would let into her private world.
Above all, Afternoons With Emily is the story of a woman who overcame the adversities of life with grace and dignity, while exhibiting a humanity that puts the finishing touches of realism on our fictional heroine.

The fact that this book was published nine years after the author's death by her children and husband makes it all the more enchanting. It was the only novel ever written by Rose MacMurray, an accomplished poet herself.

If you can spare the time, this journey is worth your while.