Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
Little Women
51 chapters
4.18from 2,535,932 ratingson Goodreads
With their father away at the war and money short, the four March sisters get through a New England winter on amateur theatricals and each other. Meg wants comfort, Jo wants to write, Beth wants nothing and Amy wants everything, and the boy next door is in love with the family as a whole.
About the book
Published in two parts in 1868 and 1869, Little Women follows the March sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy — as they grow up in a New England family of reduced means. Their father is away serving as a chaplain during the Civil War, leaving the sisters and their mother to manage daily life, work, disappointments and small pleasures together. Louisa May Alcott gives each sister distinct ambitions and faults: Meg values domestic comfort, Jo wants to write, Beth prefers home and music, and Amy pursues art and refinement. Their neighbour Laurie becomes closely involved with the family, while the novel explores work, creativity, generosity and the competing expectations placed on young women.
Characters
Jo March — March sister
An outspoken aspiring writer who resists conventional expectations and values independence fiercely.
Meg March — Eldest sister
The eldest March sister, responsible and affectionate, with a taste for beauty and domestic comfort.
Beth March — March sister
A shy, gentle sister devoted to music, home and quiet acts of kindness towards the people around her.
Amy March — Youngest sister
The artistic youngest sister, socially ambitious and determined to improve her manners and accomplishments.
Marmee March — Their mother
The sisters’ steady and compassionate mother, guiding them while their father is away at war.
Theodore Laurie — Neighbour
The lively boy next door who becomes a close companion of the March sisters, especially Jo.
Mr Laurence — Laurie’s grandfather
Laurie’s reserved grandfather and the March family’s wealthy neighbour, stern in manner but generous.
About the author
Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) was an American novelist who wrote Little Women in a few months, at a publisher's request for "a book for girls", and drew it from her own childhood with three sisters in Concord, Massachusetts. Her family were abolitionists whose house was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and she served as a nurse in a Union hospital during the Civil War until typhoid fever ended it. The book's success supported her family for the rest of her life. She also wrote sensation stories under the name A. M. Barnard, a fact not discovered until the 1940s.