Overview

Miss Madeira is the story of an “Old Maid” schoolteacher in the first half of the 20th century. No one knew the shocking secrets of her home life—only that she was a brilliant but formidable teacher, who produced several generations of students forever known as “Madeira’s Kids.”

Torn between her love for a woman, who later became her sister-in-law, and a former gifted male student, Amelia Madeira lived a complex existence—one that in many ways paralleled the life of her favorite poet, emily dickinson. her painful private life informed but did not destroy her astonishing career.

Miss Madeira reveals what lies beneath the façade of a typical Midwestern town. ‘As anyone with an intimate knowledge of the workings of small-town America knows, episodic memory is the bailiwick of barbershops Beauty shops and pool halls.’