A Suicide in Amherst? Book Review-This Brief Tragedy: Unraveling the Todd-Dickinson Affair by J E Walsh

John Walsh hypothesizes that Emily Dickinson committed suicide because of depression caused by a loss in love, the death of her nephew & a sexual scandal involving her brother. The reviewer of his book says, “although Mr. Walsh skillfully reconstructs the dark string of events that marked Dickinson’s final years, he does not convince me that she did herself in”. Even though Reynolds does not agree with Walsh’s argument about suicide, he still says the book is, “engaging & vivid”.