This really has nothing to do with the book; more with reviews of this book. A few salient points:

1. There is no such thing as "fictional biography." That is called historical fiction.

2. There is no such thing as a fictional memoir, especially of a historic figure who didn't write it. That is also called historical fiction.

3. While we're on the topic, there is no such thing as a fictional novel. It is simply a novel, or fiction.

To sum up, nonfiction ≠ fiction. Are we clear?

/rant

Could have been so, so much better. It made Emily Dickinson seem to be suffering from a mixture of bi-polar disorder and multiple personality disorder!
The author could certainly have taken a lesson in how to portray a sensitive, imaginative girl on the brink of womanhood from such classics as "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn".
Wherever this book wasn't dull, it was a misery to read. ( )

Loved the premise, loved the quote on the back, got bogged down trying to follow the story.

Emily Dickinson, a young girl, tells her story before becoming a famous American poet. She tells of challenges that inspired her. She speaks of friends who helped her grow. Also, she talks of a society that made her find who she was. Because of these, she became the poet she is today. I liked this story because it showed me a side of Emily Dickinson that I never knew. However, it could become quite dull in some places, so that is why I gave this book four stars. ( )

Reviewed by Cat for TeensReadToo.com

Despite a huge body of work and lifetime's worth of correspondence she left behind, Emily Dickinson remains an enigma in many people's minds. Why was she so preoccupied with death? Why did she choose to not marry in an era when most women did so to the exclusion of all other pursuits? What drove her to write more than one thousand poems, yet never seek publication for her work?

By immersing herself in Emily's poetry, prose, surroundings, and numerous biographies, Barbara Dana seeks to answer these questions in a first-person, fictional narrative of Emily's life from age eleven to twenty-four.

A VOICE OF HER OWN portrays Emily as a vivid, social, intelligent child; spending days and nights with family and friends, tramping about the idyllic town of Amherst, Massachusetts. Despite numerous bouts of illness, anxiety attacks, depressions, and the frequent loss of loved ones, Emily always retained a passion for the natural world, not to mention a fierce drive to improve both academically and as a poet.

It took a long time to read this novel, not because I didn't enjoy it; quite the opposite in fact, because A VOICE OF HER OWN became my daily treat of Godiva chocolates. Whenever I wanted a quiet moment to savor the beauty of nature, or revel in contemplation of a slower-paced way of life, I'd pull out Barbara Dana's book and dip into the possibilities surrounding Emily Dickinson's formative years.

Ms. Dana did a superb job of capturing Emily's voice and spirit, making this novel a truly joyful read and definitely one for the keeper shelf. ( )