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The Light Above: A Memoir with Margaret Fuller

by Maria Dintino

The Light Above is a memoir told through the unfolding stories of two proud daughters of New England—Margaret Fuller, American transcendentalist, women’s rights champion, and public intellectual, alive in the first half of the nineteenth century; and Maria Dintino, the author, daughter of a first-generation Italian American and longtime New Hampshirite. A literary enthusiast, Dintino encounters Fuller and discovers that her stories shed light on her own. Fuller becomes Dintino's guide and teacher, and Dintino gradually deepens in understanding and trust of her own life story. A memoir that reveals the impact of shared stories, extending beyond the limits of time and place.

BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary Figures
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs

ISBN: 978-1-956056-22-8 (print; softcover; perfect bound)
ISBN: 978-1-956056-23-5 (ebook)

LCCN: 2021946452

Copyright 2022; released January 2022

180 pages; 1 illustration

Author Biography

Maria Dintino has worked in higher education for thirty years, the first twenty-three at Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire, as an educational counselor and instructor of first-year writing, and the past six years in the library at Flagler College in St.  Augustine, Florida.

Maria is co-founder and writer for the Nasty Women Writers project, where she and her sister Theresa highlight women whose voices have been sidelined and erased from the fabric of our collective experience. Nasty Women Writers resists this shut down on powerful women’s voices and claims #nasty as a stance of power, not the put-down often intended. Visit their website: nastywomenwriters.com.

Currently, Maria lives in St. Augustine, Florida, yet makes trips north whenever possible to visit family, friends, and especially her grandson, Jaxson.

Endorsements

“In The Light Above, Maria Dintino finds brilliantly rich parallels between her sixties childhood in New England and the life of Margaret Fuller (American transcendentalist, women’s rights champion, public intellectual) over a hundred years earlier. The effect is moving and profound, a wise and warm examination of the struggles and rewards common to most women, including the journey of learning the world and ourselves through deep study, experience, and love.”
—Liz Robbins, author of Freaked, Play Button, and Hope,  As the World Is a Scorpion Fish

“This well-crafted memoir gives us an intimate look into the minds and lives of two intellectual daughters of New England:  Maria Dintino and Margaret Fuller. Dintino's story is touching and honest. Yet she has skillfully created a personal voice for Fuller, which unfolds alongside her own. A middle child born to a first-generation Italian American and a longer established New Hampshirite, Dintino is compelled to share her world and her understanding of it.  She is steeped in the knowledge of Fuller's world as well. The narrative continues to turn as both women pursue their dreams and their consciousness and awareness grows.  Parallels between the living writer and the deceased one begin to emerge. This book is a most satisfying read.”
— Marisella Veiga, author of We Carry Our Homes with Us:  A Cuban American Memoir

Articles and Reviews

Lisa West, Review, Conversations: The Newsletter of the Margaret Fuller Society, Spring 2022.

Me and Margaret Fuller: A Conversation with Maria Dintino, Twisting the Plot (podcast), April 25, 2022

Maria Dintino presents her book “The Light Above,” (video) Toadstool Bookshops, May 12, 2022