Written by an educator at Orchard House (Alcott's home), I was instantly intrigued--after all, I'm a musuem educator! I'm always cautious of books that take very famous people and imagine the rest of the story. Occasionally, I am horrified (though I rarely stop reading--it's that whole accident on a freeway syndrome). However, this book was fabulous. A wonderful psychological study of a woman who marries late in life to a genius--and finds that marriage to Emerson is not at all what she or he expected. There's lot of name dropping, but it's not forced--since everyone who was anyone in the mid-19th century hung out in Concord in Emerson's house. I do wonder about one of the major twists in this book involving Thoreau (don't want to spoil it), but based on the little I know about the Concord people, the book rang true. Of course, an expert would probably have a heart attack. Read it for the stuff about marriage and sacrifices.