Emily has lived a sheltered life in Amherst surrounded by her younger sister Lavinia, older brother Austin, a mother who is a mute invalid and a Washingtonian congressman father. She is a poet. Nature and the natural world are her pets. She has no interest in the larger churchgoing community that makes up Amherst. She has no interest in getting married either it seems on the surface on things. She feels misrepresented, underrepresented, unappreciated...