Writer Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) is not as well known as she could be or should be. Author Allison Pataki aims to remedy this omission by presenting the woman's life to readers of historical fiction.

Fuller was a Transcendentalist, and she was a friend and a colleague to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Bronson Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne. She was an accomplished writer and editor. She was an educator. She was a leader of intellectual parlor discussions for women. And when she got the chance to be an international correspondent for Horace Greeley's New-York Tribune, she took it. She moved to Europe and submitted reports on the efforts of the Italian people to form a united country. Along the way, she met an interesting young Italian man and had a relationship and a child with him.

These are the skeletal facts upon which a fictional version of her history can be built. We wonder. What "really" happened during Fuller's life?

Here, most of the narrative is told in the first person and in present tense by Fuller herself. We learn firsthand what she thinks and feels about her work, herself, and her friends. We already know where her life story is heading, thanks to the prologue and the epilogue that frame this book. We already know the tragedy that surrounds any mention of Margaret Fuller: that she and her family were lost in a shipwreck just before reaching the New York harbor in the summer of 1850. And yet, of course, we still want to hear the rest of the details. We want to know at least if Fuller finds satisfaction and happiness in her life, before it comes to its watery end.

In Finding Margaret Fuller, I sense many echoes from another work of historical fiction, Mr. Emerson's Wife by Amy Belding Brown. Both stories include situations where Lidian Emerson finds herself competing with Margaret Fuller for her own husband's attention. How far do any of these non-marital intimacies go? This particular path is one where fiction and historical fact may go their separate ways. I know many folks who believe that Mr. Emerson's Wife already went too far off course. Finding Margaret Fuller may push that ship right off the map. Literally.

In the concluding "Author's Note," Allison Pataki reveals that the first nonfiction book she read on the Concord authors was American Bloomsbury by Susan Cheever. She used the book as her inspiration. This is sad news indeed, for any mention of that title raises a red flag among those of us who are familiar with the Transcendentalists. Cheever's work is infamous for its numerous errors and conjectures. Pataki also explains what historical liberties she took to weave her version of Fuller's story. Alas. The details she changed about Henry David Thoreau's life will be recognized immediately by his knowledgeable fans, who will not welcome them. (I can already see the red pens coming out to mark the wrongs.) Her smoothing-over of the complexities of the Alcott family living quarters will in turn be recognized immediately by Alcott fans, who may be left with mere confusion. "Now, wait a minute," savvy readers will say. "That's not at all how it was." Indeed, it wasn't.

I have written both fiction and nonfiction about these people, these characters. I understand how challenging it can be to write about them at all, much less to imagine and to recreate their fictional conversations, feelings and reactions. It's not a task for the timid. Still, I'm not convinced that some proven facts ever need to be sacrificed for the sake of telling a good story. The decision seems like taking an easy way out.

To anyone picking up Finding Margaret Fuller, I say, Be cautious. If you don't know anything about Fuller, then set yourself up to enjoy a compelling story about an independent woman ahead of her time. She IS someone you should know. On the other hand, if you are on a first-name basis with Margaret, Waldo, Lidian, Henry, and/or Nathaniel, then just keep telling yourself that this is a work of fiction. This is a work of fiction. Some of it may be realistic enough, and some of it is clearly not. Let the reader decide what to believe.

And then point them to the credible biographies for more information.