Book cover of Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Iconic Poet

Book description

"A visual treat as well as a literary one...for gardeners and garden lovers, connoisseurs of botanical illustration, and those who seek a deeper understanding of the life and work of Emily Dickinson." -The Wall Street Journal Emily Dickinson was a keen observer of the natural world, but less well known…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life adds new growth to familiar portraits of the iconic poet. Eccentric she surely was. But a more complete picture of her emerges from this book than from any Dickinson biography I’ve paged through.

McDowell allows Dickinson’s life story, actions, words, and writing to provide biographical insights through a lens of gardening activities and household chores. Dickinson’s love of gardens and plants is well known. She engaged in the hobby year-round. Like plants need sunlight and air to survive, so did the woman who emerges from these pages. She becomes less the housebound recluse hiding in her…

If you love Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life...

Book cover of The Rosewood Penny

The Rosewood Penny by J.S. Fields,

2023 Queer Indie Award Nominee!

The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.

On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive…

Want books like Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life.

Browse books like Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life

Book cover of Botany for Gardeners
Book cover of The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants
Book cover of Second Nature: A Gardener's Education

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,341

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life, you might also like...

Book cover of Murder, Lies and Chocolate

Murder, Lies and Chocolate by Sally Berneathy,

Book 2, Death by Chocolate series.

Rodney Bradford comes into Lindsay's restaurant, offers to buy her small house for double its value, eats her brownies, and drops dead on the sidewalk in front. Next, her almost-ex-husband offers to sign the divorce papers, but only if she'll give him her small,…

Book cover of Tangle of Time

Tangle of Time by Maureen Thorpe,

A spellbinding journey through time and cultures.

When Annie Thornton, midwife and apprentice witch, falls through time to a 15th-century Yorkshire village with her telepathic cat, Rosamund, she befriends Will and Jack, two soldiers returning from the French Wars. Mistress Meg, Annie’s ancestral aunt living in the 15th century, is…

5 book lists we think you will like!