In July 1850, famous philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson receives shocking news from his neighbor, author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Their mutual friend, Margaret Fuller, is reported to have drowned in a shipwreck only 100 yards off the New York coast. Emerson thinks to himself, “He can make amends in this one way. He can tell her story. Because the fact that the world does not yet know it? Why, that is a tragedy nearly as grave as any shipwreck” (6).

In the summer of 1836, 26-year-old Margaret Fuller stands on Emerson’s doorstep for the first time. He invited her for a visit to serve as a companion for Emerson’s pregnant wife, Lidian, for a few weeks. Margaret has already risen to prominence because of her own writing. She has been called the most well-read person, male or female, in the US, and her intellectual achievements have attracted Emerson’s notice.

He asks her about her advanced education, which was unusual for a woman during the early 19th century. Margaret says that as the eldest of eight children, her father gave her the education of an eldest son. Though she loved her father, Margaret says, “I very much felt—that his love was always conditional, determined by my performance.