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Dickinson after her death: the story of the trio of women who brought the first collection of Emily Dickinson’s poems out of the shadows

Grieving the loss of her sister and alone in a big house, Lavinia goes through Emily’s things and wonders what to do with her sister’s poems. She enlists the help of Susan, Emily’s best friend and brother Austin’s wife, who rouses herself from a deep depression to put the poems into some order to approach a publisher. Lavinia also brings Austin’s mistress, Mabel, into the project for her worldliness and connections. In the wings, there is Millicent, Mabel’s daughter, a little girl like Emily in spirit, wise and strong-willed, and fascinated by things big and small in the world around her.

Delicate like lacework with dark threads running through it, Pale Shadows picks up the story of Emily Dickinson where Paper Houses left off, to explore the place of women in history, their creativity, and the enduring power of Dickinson’s poetry.