Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki is a historical fiction novel about an actual historical figure. Apparently Ms. Fuller was a contemporary of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau. She hosted a women-only literary salon. She was a co-founder of The Dial Magazine. Ms. Fuller was also the first woman to study in Harvard Library, and first female foreign news correspondent. This is just a few of the amazing things this woman did. However, this book was a "did not finish" for me. Why, then, did I give it four stars?

I started reading this book, and though it was a bit slow going, it was beautifully written. Author Allison Pataki seemed to really capture the chemistry of this woman and her enlightened friends. My problem was this: I had never heard of Margaret Fuller before, and it seemed like a marvelous story. However, I found out in the prologue that she died young! Had I already known of her, I wouldn't have been shocked and would have sped through the pages to see the details of all that she accomplished. But after I read the prologue, I had trouble really getting into the story; I just kept thinking she was dead and I ended up putting it aside. So this wasn't the book for me, but I definitely will pick up other work by Ms. Pataki. I just hope she doesn't give away the ending before the story starts!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

I indeed found Margaret Fuller, a name that is typically associated with the Concord crowd but I knew absolutely nothing about the life of the woman who carried the name.
Pataki wrote a beautiful book. Her words painted marvelous pictures of the people and the landscapes as seen through Fuller’s eyes. I admire Fuller for living a non conformist. She did rub shoulders with some of the shining stars of the literary world and beyond. I’ve never been a fan of the Transcendentalists (I find their books boring) but Pataki nailed Bronson Alcott’s character perfectly.
I was horrified to discover how Fuller’s life ended, so close yet so far from home.

(4.5/5)

This was an incredible historical fiction about the life and tragic death of Margaret Fuller. I had never heard of her and now am interested in reading more about this amazing, interesting, and trailblazing woman. I am a fan of Allison Pataki's books and I like her writing style. As with all of Ms. Pataki's books, this book was wonderfully written and researched. I'm fascinated by Margaret Fuller now and found it extremely sad how her life ended. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. And again, as in most of my reviews of historical fiction, do not pass on reading the Author's Notes as it offers important notes on the writing of the book.

Thank you to Ballentine Books and NetGalley for the review copy.

Loved this historical fiction so much! I never knew about Margaret Fuller yet loved and have read so many of the authors mentioned. I learned so much and will be buying this book!

Happy Pub Day to Finding Margaret Fuller! I absolutely loved The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post so when I saw Allison Pataki had a new book coming out I was so excited to learn about another incredible woman history has forgotten about.

Margaret Fuller is incredible. There is no other way to describe the woman who at her time was regarded as the most well-read person in America, heavily involved with the Transcendentalists along with Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott & Hawthorne. She was the first woman to be allowed to study at the Harvard Library, wrote a best-seller, was an activist for women's rights, was a literary critic in NYC, and was the first female foreign correspondent!

I enjoyed reading about Margaret and all of the incredible things she did in the 1840s! Allison Pataki's writing is engaging and draws you in. I was fascinated by each of the things she did and all of the people she knew! There were a few points where it felt a little long but otherwise I loved this book! The author's note was great, very detailed and loved seeing why she wrote this book!

Allison Pataki's Finding Margaret Fuller is just what I would expect from this author. I felt like I was part of the story. It was great. Five stars.

Allison Pataki begins with the end in mind, letting readers know Margaret Fuller’s tragic fate in the opening prologue. Margaret’s search for identity unfolds in five parts, told in first person. This provides an emotional connection so readers feel personally involved as Pataki recounts the bold, daring life of an educated, brilliant, single female in the mid-nineteenth century. The descriptive settings, like characters themselves, transport readers from the wooded lanes, wildflowers, and rivers of Massachusetts to the streets of NYC; from radical conversation salons for women in Boston, through Europe as a teacher and governess and finally, to the revolution in Italy. Margaret Fuller lived an amazing life; just not long enough. One writer explained her well, “How do you describe a Force?”
So, thank you to Allison Pataki for “finding” Margaret Fuller, a trailblazer a century ahead of her time.

Finding Margaret Fuller by Allsion Pataki is the fictional autobiography that Fuller was never able to write. She is a contemporary of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, the Alcott family and many intelligentsia of that era. She was once heralded as the best-read person of the time. It opens with her visiting the Bush, the home of Emerson and his very pregnant wife, Lidian, in Concord, Massachusetts. She stays there for a wonderful three weeks where her soul is filled with conversation and thought. She falls a little in love with him and they both know it is time for her to leave.

She returns to Boston where she tutors, barely scraping out a living until Bronson Alcott offers her a job teaching in his school, the Temple. The story continues through her life until her untimely end by drowning in the ocean after her ship sank. This book appears to be well-researched, seeming to follow the timeline of her life. It is very readable and very interesting to read of a time when women were only beginning to fight for their rights. And one of those women. Thanks Pataki, for taking this on!

I was invited to read Finding Margaret Fuller by Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantine #AllsionPataki #FindingMargaretFuller

I really enjoyed the Marjorie Post book and was looking forward to what Allison Pataki would do for Margaret Fuller. I was especially happy to see Barrie Kreinik as the narrator again! As for the book itself, I felt it was ticking the boxes as much as anything else. For being such an early feminist figure, I was disappointed with how the book focused so heavily on imagining the nature of her relationships and feelings about the many and various men in her circles. Women are jealous of her. Men want to have her. It was detracting/demeaning to the main point and left me feeling like I could have gotten the highlights from a Google search and saved the time.

Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki

Who was Margaret Fuller? How did she become known worldwide as “the most well-educated person in America”? Allison Pataki, in her own beautifully lyrical style, will tell you of her life.

Margaret was a contemporary writer of many well-known American and British writers and composers. You’ll recognize every name in this story, except hers. Pataki’s story takes the reader from Margret’s childhood to adulthood as the daughter of an exacting, educated father, and how she became renowned.

At a time (1800-1850) when girls were expected to marry young and not go to college, Margaret stood out above any male or female of her time. She championed women’s rights for education, solo travel and to own property and wealth. She was a formidable writer and role model who joined the trend of transcendentalists of her era.

Get a copy of this book published by Random House as soon as possible! It is a superb, five star masterpiece, which will enthrall any book lover.

Who is Margaret Fuller? She is the most famous woman you've never heard of. She was a literary figure who spent time with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott and other "thinkers" of their time. Edgar Allen Poe said "Humanity is divided into men, women and Margaret Fuller." She broke the mold of the typical woman of her time. Women worked in the home, raised the children and were not expected to be intellectuals. While researching history for one of her books, she was the first woman who was allowed the use of the library at Harvard University. She assembled a group of women for "conversations" encouraging women to become the thinkers of their time. They discussed many topics related to equality for men and women. She is considered on of the pioneers of the women's' lib movement. Her story is just fascinating.
It's no secret that I am a big fan of Allison Pataki's work and her latest book is no exception. I finished the book this week and it's still with me. I see so many aspects of life as a woman that are influenced by Margaret Fuller. Pataki's writing is sensational. Her research and historical facts are so wonderful that I feel like I'm stepping back in history. I feel like I have book depression today because I know it's going to be a while before we get another one of Allison's books! I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Allison Pataki has earned her way onto my list of authors I must read due to the brilliance of her writing favorites of mine such as The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post and Sisi. She has a well honed knack of creating characters that are not merely words on a page but living and breathing characters you feel that you can hear, reach out and touch. Her choices of women to research and bring to life are so very inspirational to me. I had never heard of Margaret Fuller, although Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and so many others we meet again in this gem of a book are well recognized. I love that she places the reader in their midst, in Concord, Massachusetts, where these amazing authors interacted. She turned these amazingly well known authors into people who had emotions and were so very real. What an amazing setting - Walden Pond, her special boulder, and the paths she walked.
I admired her forward thinking and her ability to earn the respect of such esteemed authors. I especially loved that she respected the marriages of Emerson and Hawthorne, in spite of being drawn to them as they were to her. These well respected authors sought her out and she more than held her own in conversations with them, as compared to their wives who were so very subdued. The power of her words resonated with women and also with men, including Horace Greeley. Although I totally enjoyed being placed in the midst of her conversations with Emerson on their long walks, I avidly read the passages between she and Lydian, the tension leaping from both women. I could not imagine being a guest and living in the house with such tension.
Her travels to Europe were truly fascinating, especially her life in Rome. The moral decisions she was forced to make were devastating, but I was so relieved that she finally experienced true love and motherhood. The ending broke my heart. So appreciative of Allison Pataki’s notes from her extensive research into the life of Margaret Fuller.
Once again Allison Pataki you have brought another amazing woman to life within the pages of Finding Margaret Fuller and made her contributions to women’s rights known. My sincere thanks and appreciation for expanding my knowledge about so much of life during her time frame. My thanks and appreciation also to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an arc of this incredible gem published today, March 19th.

This is my first time reading an Allison Pataki novel and it certainly won’t be my last. What I loved about this novel is everything! First, I didn’t know anything about Margaret Fuller. What a fascinating person I’m still intrigued by her and plan on reading more about her. Second, I love the various settings. Living in Massachusetts, I could picture Concord and the area where many of the authors mentioned were living. I loved the way the story was written, it grabbed me from the moment I started reading.. Margaret was a brave and strong woman; a pioneer and trailblazer for her time and her cause. It’s amazing that she is not as well known as she should be. I hope this novel sparks interest in her remarkable life.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for this advanced reader copy.

A Bold Journey Through History!
Finding Margaret Fuller is an epic ride through the life of America’s forgotten heroine. Allison Pataki brings Margaret to life—from Boston to Rome, from friendships to love affairs. This novel is a must-read for anyone who craves adventure, romance, and a glimpse into the extraordinary life of a trailblazer. Prepare to be transformed by this remarkable tale.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This novel provides an impressive vista of the life and times of Margaret Fuller, someone whom I knew nothing about until I read this book. Margaret was an early proponent of gender equality and was an activist for women's rights during the 1800s. After reading this comprehensive and fascinating book, I am in awe of the many things that this woman accomplished in her lifetime. Margaret wanted to break through the puritanical thoughts of gender constraints while encouraging "the free expression of ideas".

Margaret Fuller worked as a teacher, tutor, and writer. She became a published author, the co-editor of the New York Tribune newspaper along with Horace Greeley, and was the first American foreign newspaper correspondent. She did all of this during a time when women were discouraged from any roles other than wife and mother. Margaret also maintained professional relationships with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, as well as becoming a dear friend of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

I found Allison Pataki's writing to be both lyrical and poetic in nature. It is so fluid that it easily pulls the reader into time and place, whether that is Boston, New York City, or Rome. She paints a virtual picture with her words of some of the greatest thinkers, poets, musicians, and writers of the 19th century. Though lengthy, this story was never boring.

I recommend this book as a "must read" for fans of historical fiction and/or women's fiction. And would also like to encourage readers, if they haven't already done so, to add Ms. Pataki's previous novel " The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post" to their TBR lists.

My sincere thanks to Random House Publishing - Ballantine and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

With FINDING MARGARET FULLER, Allison Pataki has again shed clear, compassionate light on a little-known, even less understood hero of the past: Margaret Fuller who lived in the 1800s and fought tirelessly for human rights, in her own life and circle of luminaries including the Trancendalists. Living free and bold, challenging social restrictions and constructs, Fuller is a fully-realized, compelling character and her life story brought to vivid, sensual detail in Pataki's wonderful novel. I knew nothing about Fuller but her name when I started reading and by the end of the book, I was astounded that she is not better known and celebrated -- this book may well be an entry to a long-forgotten, essential genius and her contributions to our current time. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

Allison Pataki's "Finding Margaret Fuller" offers a vivid and immersive journey into the extraordinary life of a pioneering woman whose legacy has often been overshadowed. Set against the backdrop of 19th-century America, Pataki brings to life the captivating story of Margaret Fuller, a woman ahead of her time. The narrative captures Fuller’s spirited character, her achievements, and her multifaceted and complex nature. Pataki’s prose is eloquent and compelling, offering a captivating and inspiring portrait of a forgotten heroine, showcasing her contributions to history and celebrating the untold stories of remarkable women who shaped the world. Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction and anyone interested in these untold stories.

Thank you, NetGalley and Ballantine, for my free digital copy for review.

"Finding Margaret Fuller" by Alison Pataki vividly portrays the life of an inspiring woman who passionately advocates for women's rights. Surrounded by famous friends such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller fearlessly pursued her aspirations and beliefs.

This historical fiction masterpiece transports readers back to 1836 - 1850, intricately detailing Margaret Fuller's journey from her struggles in a male-dominated world and a society that confined women to domestic roles, to her transformative travels to Europe. During this time of unrest in Italy, she encountered the love of her life and experienced the profound journey of motherhood.

The novel eloquently portrays Margaret's frustration among her friends, from her unrequited feelings for married men to her relentless struggle to assert her individuality and worth beyond being merely an accessory to their husbands. Her battle for fair compensation for her work, while supporting her family, adds a layer to her story. Despite the challenges, she perseveres through her speaking engagements with fellow women and ultimately secures a groundbreaking role as the first woman editor of the NY Tribune. However, her successes are accompanied by criticism, notably from Edgar Allan Poe. Yet, she steadfastly faces her detractors without faltering.

The recurring nightmares throughout the narrative subtly foreshadow the tragic aspects of her life, providing readers with a poignant glimpse of her future.

Despite the bittersweet ending, "Finding Margaret Fuller" shines a spotlight on a woman whose contributions and unwavering beliefs deserve recognition. It inspires readers, especially women, to courageously stand for their convictions.

Favorite quotes from the book:

“I long to do something beautiful and entirely new, something of my very own.” -Margaret, Finding Margaret Fuller by Alison Pataki

“There’s a call to action that I’ve issued to each reader who takes up my pages: be bold and daring.” -Margaret, Finding Margaret Fuller by Alison Pataki


“But if you ask me what offices women may fill; I reply - any. I do not care about what case you put; let them be sea-captains, if that be their calling.” -Margaret, Finding Margaret Fuller by Alison Pataki

“Let my life be a beautiful, powerful, in a word, a complete life in its kind. Had I but one more moment to live, I must wish the same.” -Margaret, Finding Margaret Fuller by Alison Pataki

The amazing life of a woman whose many accomplishments should be better known.

Margaret Fuller was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1810 and died in 1850. What she accomplished in those forty years, however, is quite astounding, and I am amazed that until reading this novel I knew little of her. She was the eldest child in her family, and her father raised her as if she were a son, educating her at home in the manner of classical education. Women of that time were not allowed to attend college, which made the extent of her knowledge and abilities all the more remarkable. When her father died relatively young and left insufficient funds to support the family, it was to Margaret that the burden of earning a living fell. She wrote and published, and in so doing attracted the attention of the literary lion of that era, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Invited into his inner circle of intellectual friends (Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the father of Louisa May Alcott to name but a few), Margaret received from and provided inspiration to their Transcendentalist movement and ultimately beyond. She lived in pursuit of all women’s rights to be their own person, possess their own thoughts, and pursue higher education, even as she had to earn a living in a way that her male counterparts did not. Emerson was her mentor, she his muse; Hawthorne may have modeled the character of Hester Prynne on her; Louisa May Alcott named the eldest March sister in Little Women after her: Horace Greeley hired her to work as a reporter and ultimately the first international correspondent for the New York Tribune. She is considered a major figure in the Transcendentalist movement, but while we all read The Scarlet Letter and On Walden Pond in high school or college her writings are seldom included in the curriculum. Her Woman in the Nineteenth Century is considered the first feminist work, she was one of the inspirations for Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony in their pursuit of women’s rights and suffrage. In Finding Margaret Fuller, I learned all of this and more as I followed her life from her first encounter with Emerson through her travels in Europe, pursuing her goals and passions. The book starts off a bit slowly, but what I was learning about the woman who was Margaret Fuller compelled me to keep going and I am very glad that I did. Readers of Nancy Horan, Paula McLain and Marie Benedict should snatch up a copy of Finding Margaret Fuller immediately, and so should anyone who wants to learn more about this incredible person whose accomplishments have been allowed to fall by the wayside over the years. Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for allowing me access to an early copy of this novel, and to author Allison Pataki for introducing me to Margaret Fuller.

A great way to learn about a woman that I knew absolutely nothing about. Fuller was a writer who spent her time with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Alcotts, Horace Greeley, and many other notable writers. I am sure I would have appreciated this book more if I was more interested in the time period and Transcendentalism (as well as the Italian Revolution.)