Book Chat: Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki

Important Update Regarding Meeting Usage During Library Renovation

During 2026, we will be undergoing a renovation to better serve the people of Dearborn County. 

Due to the renovation, access to the Youth Services Department will be closed to the public during January and February. You will still be able to use the Ewbank Meeting Room throughout this closure, but our procedures for using the room have been modified:

  • Please enter the library via the High St. entrance. This entrance provides direct access to the Ewbank Meeting Room only. To access other areas of the library, you must use the Mary St. or Parking Lot entrances.
  • Once inside, please call our Adult Services Department at 812-537-2775 Ext. 1125. Let us know that you have arrived and provide your group's name. A staff member will come to unlock the room for your group.
  • If you need any assistance at any time during your meeting, please call 812-537-2775 Ext. 1125 and a staff member will come to help.
  • When your meeting has finished, please call 812-537-2775 Ext. 1125 again to let us know. Please leave your clipboard in the room. A staff member will come to lock the room and collect the clipboard. There is no need to wait for us.

We are excited to share our upgraded spaces with you once renovations are complete. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to improve your library.

Program Type:

Book Club

Age Group:

Adults
Please note you are looking at an event that has already happened.
  • Registration is required for this event.
  • Registration is no longer available for this event.

Program Description

Book Chat is a monthly book discussion group. April's book is Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki.

In the company of Ralph Waldo Emerson and his circle of enlightened friends, the young, beautiful, and brilliant Margaret Fuller becomes “the radiant genius and fiery heart” of the Transcendentalists. She inspires Louisa May Alcott, sparks Nathaniel Hawthorne to create Hester Prynne, and forms close bonds with Henry David Thoreau and Emerson himself. However, Margaret’s soul yearns for more than poetry and drama, leading her on a journey of adventure and self-discovery.

From hosting a women-only literary salon in Boston to becoming the first woman permitted entry to Harvard’s library, Margaret defies societal conventions as an activist for women’s rights and a champion for humanity. On the gritty New York streets, she spars with Edgar Allan Poe and reports on the work of Frederick Douglass. And when offered an assignment in Europe by editor Horace Greeley, Margaret becomes the first female foreign news correspondent, mingling with the likes of Frédéric Chopin, William Wordsworth, and George Sand. In Rome, she embarks on a passionate love affair with a Roman count, causing an international scandal. As a mother and a countess, Margaret enters a new fight for Italy’s unification.

With a star-studded cast and an epic sweep of historical events, this is a story of an inspiring trailblazer, a woman who loved big and lived even bigger—a fierce adventurer who transcended the rigid roles ascribed to women and changed history for millions, all on her own terms.