Little Women (Illustrated Edition)

Little Women' is an American classic, written in the 19th Century. Largely based on the author's own childhood, it is a timeless tale of the four young March sistersMeg, Jo, Beth, and Amywho grow to maturity in their mother's tender but strong care. As different in their personalities as they are alike in their devotion to each other, the girls vow to support their beloved mother, Marmee, by behaving their best while Father is away.

Literary-minded tomboy, Jo develops a fast friendship with the boy next door, and pretty Meg, the eldest, finds romance; frail and affectionate Beth, fills the house with music, and little Amy, the youngest, seeks beauty with all the longing of an artist's soul. Although poor in material wealth, the family possesses an abundance of love, friendship, and imaginative gifts that captivate readers time and again.

This inexpensive, complete and unabridged edition of this beloved novel is sure to delight a generation of new readers, as well as those reacquainting themselves with its warmth and charm.

This Novel was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. Alcott wrote the books rapidly over several months at the request of her publisher. 'Little Women' was an immediate commercial and critical success, and readers demanded to know more about the characters. Alcott quickly completed a second volume, entitled Good Wives. It was also successful. The two volumes were issued in 1880 in a single work entitled 'Little Women'.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832. She and her three sisters, Anna, Elizabeth and May were educated by their father, philosopher/teacher, Bronson Alcott and raised on the practical Christianity of their mother, Abigail May.

Louisa spent her childhood in Boston and in Concord, Massachusetts, where her days were enlightened by visits to Ralph Waldo Emerson's library, excursions into nature with Henry David Thoreau and theatricals in the barn at Hillside.

Like her character, Jo March in 'Little Women', young Louisa was a tomboy. For her, writing was an early passion. She had a rich imagination and often her stories became melodramas that she and her sisters would act out for friends.

At age 15, troubled by the poverty that plagued her family, she vowed: "I will do something by and by. Don't care what, teach, sew, act, write, anything to help the family; and I'll be rich and famous and happy before I die, see if I won't!"

Confronting a society that offered little opportunity to women seeking employment, Louisa determined "...I will make a battering-ram of my head and make my way through this rough and tumble world." Whether as a teacher, seamstress, governess, or household servant, for many years Louisa did any work she could find.

Louisa's career as an author began with poetry and short stories that appeared in popular magazines. In 1854, when she was 22, her first book, 'Flower Fables' was published. A milestone along her literary path was 'Hospital Sketches' (1863) based on the letters she had written home from her post as a nurse in Washington, DC as a nurse during the Civil War.

When Louisa was 35 years old, her publisher Thomas Niles in Boston asked her to write 'a book for girls'. 'Little Women' was written at Orchard House from May to July 1868. The novel is based on Louisa and her sisters' coming of age and is set in Civil War New England.

In all, Louisa published over 30 books and collections of stories. She died on March 6, 1888, only two days after her father, and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord.

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