I've long been fascinated by the life and work of this industrious daughter of Concord, Massachusetts, whose stories have given me such pleasure over the years but were often a source of drudgery and toil to her. I've come to learn that the charming, moralistic, feel-good family tales she's famous for weren't her first choice. Louisa always leaned toward edgy thrillers, but they didn't pay bills or suit the wholesome, motivating family image.
Her father, Bronson Alcott, was quite a famous philosopher in his own right, who rubbed shoulders with the likes of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Yet he had to rely on his daughter's fast-flowing pen to keep a roof over his head and food on his table.
I have a love/hate relationship with Louisa's writing, but mostly love. Sometimes she shocks me, sometimes she makes me laugh for reasons she surely didn't intend, and sometimes she makes me rage against some of her own personal favourite characters. But she always leaves me with a book hangover wanting more, which is reason enough to give her a page of her own.
The Little Women Series
The Campbell Family Duology
Stand-Alone Books
Other Posts of Interest
March, by Geraldine Brooks (This Pulitzer prize winning novel features the girls' father, Mr March, and how he fared as a chaplain during the Civil War.)
The Other Alcott by Elise Hooper (This interesting novel is a fictional account of the life of Abigail May Alcott aka Amy March.)
Falling for a friend's younger sister (My comparison of the Laurie/Amy relationship with that of Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley.)
Coming Soon!
The Chase
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