Michaela MacColl (Prisoners in the Palace) fashions a suspenseful, often humorous historical novel in which a 15-year-old Emily Dickinson plays detective when a stranger to town winds up facedown in her family's pond.
When a young gentleman approaches Emily in the meadow, she asks him who he is, and he tells her he's "nobody important." When he asks her what she's doing, she risks answering him honestly: "Hoping a bee would land on my nose." He daubs some honey on her nose, from a piece of honeycomb, to help her achieve her goal ("I have a relation who keeps bees," he explains). She calls him Mr. Nobody, he calls her Miss Nobody, and the author creates instant chemistry between them. Their exchange derives from Emily Dickinson's poem--"I'm Nobody! Who are you?/ Are you--Nobody--Too?"--which also serves as the opening chapter's heading.
When Mr. Nobody turns up dead, Emily is determined to figure out how he died and who he was. Befitting a poet, Emily pays attention to details, and she uncovers one clue after another. MacColl depicts an era when intelligence is not valued as highly in a woman as it is in a man, yet Emily wins over Dr. Gridley and Reverend Colton with her clear reasoning. The author smoothly integrates other historical details.
MacColl demonstrates how accessible Dickinson's poetry was, and why she has earned a place as one of America's most beloved poets. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness