Every, if not most, women who have been avid readers since their childhood would know Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. It is a children’s classic after all, and dare I say, well-loved. I myself have read it a long time ago in my youth, but I must add it was because I saw the movie first, and dear god, was Christian Bale as Laurie a sight! As with Jane Eyre in a previous post, I have not read this book since then, so I only remember details, such as being heartbroken over Beth, and why oh why did Jo not end up with Laurie*?? Bear in mind I had Christian Bale on the head, so I just found this development utterly unacceptable.
So yes, Little Women is a book quite dear to me. I was pleasantly surprised, of course, to then learn of this book, which I must have found featured in an article online. More about the March sisters, and a modern day connection**? Why yes, I’ll take that!
Written by Gabrielle Donnelly and published in 2011 by Penguin Books, The Little Women Letters “explores the imagined lives of Jo March’s descendants–three sisters who are both thoroughly modern and thoroughly March.” It parallels the lives and characters of the three March sisters — Meg, Jo, and Amy — with Jo’s great, great granddaughters — Emma, Lulu, and Sophie. The reader gets little glimpses of the March family’s life after Little Women ended and before Little Men began, as one of the modern girls get to know their ancestor through her great, great grandmother Jo’s letters.
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