Finding Margaret Fuller: A Novel

In the fall of 1839, Margaret has the idea to host a salon where women can meet to discuss the larger questions of life. Her friend Eliza Peabody, sister to Nathaniel’s wife Sophia, volunteers the use of her home. Margaret says, “I’ll open up twenty-five spots, I decide. Women only. I’ll charge them each ten dollars and plan for a thirteen-week series of Conversations” (153). Boston’s social elite all enroll in the salons. Initially, many women are hesitant to express an opinion or pursue independent thought. Through Margaret’s coaching, however, their minds expand, and the salons become a rousing success.

Shortly before Christmas, Waldo pays Margaret a visit and proposes that she spend the holidays in Concord. He also proposes launching a transcendental journal of which Margaret will be the editor. She accepts the job, seeing it as another avenue to free women’s minds from the limits of conventional thinking. Waldo recruits Bronson, Thoreau, and Nathaniel to contribute articles. Bronson suggests that the magazine be called The Dial. “Because, like a sundial, we shall be an instrument of the light. Like a sundial, we are taking the measurement of our days” (164). Everyone agrees to the name.