Little Women

When a Boston publisher asked her to write a girl's story in 1868, Louisa May Alcott began a novel based on her own childhood, in the hope that its publication might settle some of her father's mounting debts. She did not think much of her book at first, remarking in her diary that it was "very dull." However, she was pleasantly surprised by the result, noting that her book was "not sensational, but simple and true, for we really lived most of it; and if it succeeds that will be the reason for it." The book was, of course, Little Women, the first American children's story to become an enduring classic, never out of print since the day it was published in 1868.

A touching and sensitive portrayal of the lives of four young sisters during the American Civil War period, Little Women is most memorable for the striking character of the reckless and imaginative Jo. Equally well drawn are Meg, Beth and Amy, portraits based on the author's own sisters. Pretty Meg is the belle of the family, Beth is gentle and quiet, and twelve-year-old Amy tries hard to be dignified, but feels thwarted by the shape of her nose. Their wonderful mother, "Marmee," is based on Louisa Alcott's own beloved mother.

With their father, an army chaplain, away at the war, the four March sisters have to struggle to make ends meet. Louisa Alcott's vivid descriptions of their trials and tribulations, their rivalries and reconciliations, are unforgettable. Modern readers, like the generations before them, cannot help being drawn into their happy, if impoverished, home.