Allison Pataki, Author of Finding Margaret Fuller:
“Margaret really urged women to seek more for themselves, to seek more learning, to speak up for themselves…You put a wall in front of her and she wanted to find a way to break it down for herself and then for others.”
Listen in or view the ZOOM for my new The Women’s Eye Podcast with Allison Pataki, author of Finding Margaret Fuller, her tenth book! You may have seen my previous profiles of more than a dozen remarkable authors here on TWE, including interviews with award-winning authors Anita Gail Jones and Sarah Gristwood.
Available also on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube
Image: Alonso Chappel, 1872
What a delight to chat with Allison, who is a New York Times bestselling author and writes about lost heroines: women who changed the course of history but were largely forgotten.
In her newest historical novel, we meet a brilliant American thinker, journalist, and activist who inspired Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She was a muse of the Transcendentalist movement. Philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson, known as “the Sage of Concord,” even called her “the radiant genius and fiery heart” of the Transcendentalists.
And, because they were part of Margaret Fuller’s world, we also peek into the lives of literary giants of that time: Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and George Sand.
This sums up what well-known writer Edgar Allen Poe thought of Fuller:
“Humanity is divided into men, women, and Margaret Fuller.”
This book is also so much fun to read. Allison gives us a close-up look at true, juicy details like these:
- Margaret was the inspiration for Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter.
- Louisa May Alcott, who lived right up the road, talked to her sunflowers.
- Emerson told Margaret, “You have me completely at your mercy.”
- Thoreau ate fish stew with his fingers and made little, tiny shoes for Emerson’s chickens.
Allison talks to us about the line between fiction and reality, and the writer’s responsibility to maintain credibility when filling in imagined details.
We also discuss:
- Allison’s research techniques.
- The use of dialog to bring characters to life.
- The inspiring grit and determination her heroines muster to overcome the obstacles in their lives and her own journey through “broken places.”
Allison Pataki’s novels have been translated into more than 20 languages. Her writing has been praised as “impeccably researched” (Publishers Weekly) and “deeply moving” (BookPage)
with thanks to the Ralph Waldo Emerson House.
Activist Margaret Fuller inspired Allison so much that she spent three years researching, writing and obsessing about her. Now that I’ve read Pataki’s new book, Fuller is inspiring me, too. Maybe you’ll be the next.
“The ornament of a house is the friends that frequent it.” RWE
Photo: P. Burke
To connect with Allison Pataki:
Website: AllisonPataki.com
Instagram: allisonpataki
Twitter: allisonpataki
Facebook: AllisonPatakiPage
And if you’d like to read more from remarkable women, check out The Women’s Eye anthologies: 20 Women Storytellers and 20 Women Changemakers. Each book is a collection of interviews with women who have made a difference in the world. They reveal passion, setbacks, courage and perseverance; their stories are sure to inspire you!
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