Adams, Maureen B.

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Adams, Maureen B.

PERSONAL:

Married.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Sonoma, CA. Agent—Elise Capron, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, PMB 515, 1155 Camino del Mar, Del Mar, CA 92014. E-mail—adams1@vom.com; maureenadams@shaggymuses.com.

CAREER:

Licensed clinical psychologist and author. Taught English at the University of Missouri and lectured on psychology at the University of San Francisco.

WRITINGS:

Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton and Emily Brontë, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Maureen B. Adams is a licensed clinical psychologist and author of the nonfiction text Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton and Emily Brontë. She resides in Sonoma, California, with her husband and several canine friends. Prior to becoming a writer, Adams taught English at the University of Missouri and psychology at the University of San Francisco. She wrote Shaggy Muses following the loss of her golden retriever Cody. Through her grief, she was able to analyze the close relationships that dog owners develop with their dogs and how these relationships affect owners' lives. In order to demonstrate her ideas, Adams chose five major female literary figures—Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton, and Emily Brontë—and researched the different roles that their dogs played in their personal and professional lives.

Adams's unique perspective as both a dog lover and clinical psychologist informed Shaggy Muses, which consists of short biographies, photographs, and drawings. The book also includes select passages from the authors' works that illustrate how these five women relied on their dogs for comfort, friendship, and inspiration. In a review for the BookLoons Web site, critic Hilary Williamson wrote that "Adams talks about the benefits that these—and other dogs—bring their owners, from the secure base and safe harbor that their attachments offer to solace, playfulness and a reconnection to the natural world." Deborah Straw, writing for the Curled Up with a Good Book Web site, found the book to be filled with "smart writing, fine research and a neutral tone."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July 1, 2007, review of Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton and Emily Brontë.

Chicago Tribune, August 18, 2007, Elizabeth Taylor, review of Shaggy Muses, p. 2.

Christian Science Monitor, August 28, 2007, review of Shaggy Muses.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2007, review of Shaggy Muses.

Library Journal, July 1, 2007, Erica Swenson Danowitz, review of Shaggy Muses, p. 92.

Publishers Weekly, May 21, 2007, review of Shaggy Muses, p. 47.

Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, VA), September 9, 2007, review of Shaggy Muses.