Always Emily

By: Michaela MacColl

Narrated by: Polly Lee

Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

One day, 15-year-old Emily Dickinson meets a mysterious, handsome young man. Surprisingly, he doesn't seem to know who she or her family is. And even more surprisingly, he playfully refuses to divulge his name. Emily enjoys her secret flirtation with Mr. "Nobody" until he turns up dead in her family's pond. She's stricken with guilt. Only Emily can discover who this enigmatic stranger was before he's condemned to be buried in an anonymous grave. Her investigation takes her deep into town secrets, blossoming romance, and deadly danger. Exquisitely written and meticulously researched, this novel celebrates Emily Dickinson's intellect and spunk in a page-turner of a book that will excite fans of mystery, romance, and poetry alike.

©2014 Michaela MacColl (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Great Story

I couldn't stop listening. loved it! I want to be friends with Emily. Great narration too.

Description is Wrong- but it was a happy surprise

I found this book when looking for other books performed by the narrator after listening to A Place to Hang the Moon.
I wouldn’t have chosen a “Brontë” book but I was excited for this Emily Dickinson book.
To my surprise it wasn’t Dickinson but Brontë and I rather enjoyed it! It actually made me want to go read some of their actual work (Jane Eyre wasn’t a favorite of mine.) AND now I really want to read this author’s actual “Emily Dickinson” book.

Fabulous story

Loved the story!
If you’ve read (or watched) Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, this is a must read!

Narrator Ms. Lee did a wonderful job with the ladies voices but all the men sounded the exact same (odd) way.
Ms. MacColl wrote this so beautifully that it wasn’t that big of a deal to the story or stop me from listening (work in progress I’m sure - can’t be easy).

Good Story - Description is way wrong

I don't know if there's a mix-up or I totally missed part of this story but the description of this book does NOT match the actual story. This book is about Emily Bronte, not Emily Dickinson. There is no dead body or unmarked grave.

My feeble attempt at an accurate description - The Bronte sisters are polar opposites, Charlotte is practical and Emily is bold. Of course, this causes many issues between the two. They, along with their brother, are the surviving children of Minister Bronte. Rev. Bronte is vocal in his support of mill workers not being replaced by machines while the mill owners pressure him to cease his sermons of support of the workers. As this is going on, Emily encounters a young man living off of the moors she loves to traverse. This young man's story interests Emily as he tells her a tale of deep family secrets and betrayal. Charlotte, on her trip home from a school she was teaching at, encounters woman in the road desperately asking for help. Her efforts are thwarted by a young man who is as handsome as he is chauvinistic. Branwin (spelling?), their brother, is up to something mysterious and both sisters want to find out what is going on. (stopping my summary here as I don't want to give away too much)

The story is well-written. I can see how some would view it as a little long, but I don't think its unnecessarily so. I enjoyed the story for the most part. The writing of the women is on par for the times, but it is still annoying to read women who are prone to bouts of crying and pulling out their hair (this only happens once, but once is too many times for me). However, Emily's boldness is refreshing. There are times where I kind of spaced out while reading, but the story overall held my interest.

The narration was fine though I did have one issue. The story is written in third person but sometimes its not clear when the thoughts have changed from one character to the next. It gets a little confusing. It doesn't take long to figure out the switch, but its the kind of thing that would probably be easier to grasp in written format versus audio. Outside of that, I believe the narrator does a great job.

Barley finished it

It was a long drawnout boring story. I had a very hard time staying with it kept thinking it would get better but it never did. And if I a 30 years old didn't like it there's no way a teenager is gonna like it.