This book gives the facts of this literary poet's great life with information you might not have known or maybe you do. You learn about his early years, affairs, writing career and more. But, there is more to it. I looked forward to this book. I saw it as a way of learning more about a poet I enjoy who died too early at age 40. I know he had an interesting life and I wanted more in-depth details. There are good elements and not great elements in this book. He does bring Poe to life and provides interesting details about him. If you are interested in learning more or learning about him then this book does the job. If you are looking for a biographical novel you might wonder what you are going to get. This means if the author didn't find the information he figured out what would have happened and wrote that. Sometimes in such a book it is more heavy in nonfiction and made interesting with the added elements while in others it is made more interesting true with more fiction than nonfiction. This one I'd say is more of a fictional account of Poe's life with biographical information.

I really enjoyed the blend of historical facts and storytelling. Combine these with Poe and you're onto a winner. This is a fantastic take on exploring Poe and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes the dark...

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eACR of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I love how the narrator portraits his life, a well-balanced mix of historical facts, setting, and intimate drama. The author's voice is fluid without be simplistic, and the dialogues and emotions are true and pure.

Complete review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3656671022

Everything that you wanted to know about Edgar Allan Poe is in this book! OH MY GOODNESS, this is perfect for any fan of Poe.

Get this book now, you will NOT be disappointed!

As someone who has been an EA Poe fan since childhood, I REALLY enjoyed this book. I'll admit that before I started it, I didn't realize it was going to be more like historical fiction than an outright biography. That is not a bad thing, it made for a quick and interesting read. It did, however, make me stop to try to figure out where the line of fact ended and some creative fiction began during the story. Being a fan, I would say that I knew more about Poe's life than the average person might but am very far from an expert. For example, did his Aunt/Mother-in-Law really beat Elizabeth Ellet with a broom during one of her visits to their house?!

Anyway, I very much enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who has been a fan of his work and wants to start getting to know the man behind his most famous works. It was a nice, interesting, and quick read!

Insight into Poe that I have not yet read or encountered. Enjoyable read from an author that I haven’t read before.

I've long been a fan of Edgar Allen Poe, and I teach "The Telltale Heart" to my gifted students every year. I love the title of this one; it's what drew me in originally. I also enjoyed that it was a biographical novel and read like a story. I love learning about people but don't always enjoy feeling like I'm studying for a test. This was the best of both worlds. I learned more about Poe and enjoyed the journey through history.

**Not sure I need the sex scenes? Not a good picture.


I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

Phenomenal biography - Poe is known for his darkness, but the path he took to get to there is less known. This was an engrossing read for a former lit major. Loved it.

Subtitle: A Biographical Novel of Edgar Allen Poe

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I have been fascinated by Edgar Allen Poe’s works and life for many years. I requested this book through Net Galley believing it to be a straight up biography, but found when I actually began reading it that it was a fictionalize biography.


A Quiet Madness has a few problems. The dialogue in some sections doesn’t ring true, especially in the early section of the book where the 3-4 year old Poe is speaking. I have read about Poe’s racism in another biography, but in this book he is portrayed as being affectionate toward the slaves at his foster parents’ plantation. There is some debate about his potentially racist views based on his writings, but I feel they were glossed over in this case.

While the book accurately presents many of the facts of Poe’s life, for me it doesn’t seem to capture the bleakness portrayed in other books. Poe made very little money from his writing (he only made $9 from The Raven) – many authors of that same period had the same problem due to lax copyright laws and publishing their works in newspapers and then not receiving any additional payment when other publications reprinted them – but also was constantly short of money. He had problems finding jobs with pay that matched his high opinion of himself, and often lost jobs due to drinking or other conflicts with his employers.

I gave A Quiet Madness four stars on Goodreads. The novelization format does a good job of allowing readers to experience Poe’s life, even though I had some issues with how he was portrayed. I also appreciated that the author went out on a limb and proposed a speculative version of Poe’s death.

So much about Poe I didn't know. A rather complex man though from his writings I expected that. The author definitely did their research. Would recommend this to any fan of his.

I really liked this look at Poe, and I think a lot of our patrons will as well.. I've gone ahead and ordered a couple copies for the library. Thank you for the chance to read early.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

When these kinds of books are done right and about authors I like and find interesting (see Will by Grace Tiffany and Wintering by Kate Moses), I love them. I'm a big fan of "death of the author" as a literary theory, but that doesn't mean I don't find them interesting. Books like these are the best of both worlds because they might incorporate some known facts, they ARE fiction.

Possible spoiler (though if you know anything about Edgar Allan Poe, you know about this): This book does discuss his marriage to his 13 year-old cousin. I definitely don't condone or excuse that, but it is a historical fact and something that did happen.

The author of this book (John Isaac Jones) does a fantastic job of transporting you to Poe's world and writing him "living." If you like Poe or are interested about his life, this is definitely a compelling portrayal and it's very interesting to imagine.

Just keep in mind this fiction and not an autobiography or biography. It is not a verbatim account of his life. Do a quick Google search to separate fact from fiction!

This is a great historical fiction about Edgar Allan Poe's life. I plan to read this again as I rather enjoyed the book and the author's writing style. I highly recommend A Quiet Madness.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

This book is an absolutely charming biographical novel of the life of Edgar Allen Poe. It goes from his unlikely (and very apt) birth in a funeral parlor in Boston to his death after a barroom brawl in Baltimore. Although it reads like an engaging biography, it's novelized because there are conversations in it.

The book is enlivened by letters, diary entries, and poems, all taken from Poe's own writings and that of others.

I was entranced by this book.

A Quiet Madness: A Biographical Novel of Edgar Allan Poe
A Quiet Madness: A biographical novel of Edgar Allan Poe by John Isaac Jones is a fictional biography of the famous poet.
In A Quiet Madness: A biographical novel of Edgar Allan Poe by John Isaac Jones the author novelizes the life of Mr. Poe and uses conjecture to fill in the blanks. It is is a novel-like biography of Edgar Allan Poe intertwined with historical accounts and facts about his life.  I have been a fan of Poe’s writing since I was a child. He introduced me to my love of Mysteries and of Horror. The mystery surrounding the real event s of his death have always been a source of fascination to me. I admit I was expecting an actual biography, not a novel-like biography.
Jones fills in gaps about Poe’s story with an artistic license that I sometimes agreed with and sometimes rolled my eyes over.
I found it a little tiring that as a child and teen he was constantly described as beautiful and angelic. Perfect in every way. Hard to buy considering how his life played out but then he was a ladies' man, so maybe he was beautiful and angelic.
But regardless of the author taking some liberty with Poe’s tale, it was enjoyable and an easy read that I did thoroughly enjoy.
I received this book free of charge in exchange for my unbiased review, thanks to Independent Book Publishers Association and @Netgalley

“Yes. Edgar. That’s a good name. It has a certain ring of nobleness to it. His name will be Edgar Poe. We’ll call him Eddie.”

A Quiet Madness by John Isaac Jones is a fictionalized version of an Edgar Allan Poe biography. Edgar Allan Poe is one of my all time favorite authors. I have read other biographies about him, and was excited to learn more. Honestly though this book fell very flat. The writing was very basic, especially the dialogue which read in a very childish way to me. And I truly believe a lot the story and timing of events was very off at least in comparison to the other biographies i have read. I do have a tendency to no enjoy “fictionalized history” books as much as actual history so I do admit that this could have some to do with my lack of enjoyment. But given the basic writing, and the inaccuracy I can only give this book 2 stars.

I am a huge Poe fan, so I was super excited to read this ARC, but I wasn't as happy with it once it got started. I felt like the story was a lot of "telling". Poe is a master of suspense and word play and "show" and this was a lot of telling what happened. I know that it's a book about Poe, and not one written by him, but I felt like it lacked the depth of story, it felt more like a history book than anything else. I really did want to learn more about his life, but this just didn't grip me enough for me to keep reading. I managed to get about 20% of the way through the ebook.

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
I am a huge fan of Poe's and found this to be a quite enjoyable narrative of his life.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this biological fiction. But it was a super exciting novel. It captured the life of Edgar Allan Poe with all the mystery, drama, poems, spirits and more. I absolutely loved it. I only wish the author would have included a little more about the rumors of Poe following in love with Anna Ravenel while he was stationed at Fort Moultrie, SC. Nevertheless, there was so much to learn about Poe's family. The author brought his life and soul into the book. I will look for other books written by this author.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this copy.

Poe is one of my favorite authors. His dark views on his stories draw you in. I never knew his background. He grew up in an unusual environment that helped shape him. I didn't know he worked for some many magazines. Or the event of his death. Any loved of classic literature would love this.