Begun in 2010, this blog offers analysis and reflection by Susan Bailey on the life, works and legacy of Louisa May Alcott and her family. Susan is an active member and supporter of the Louisa May Alcott Society, the Fruitlands Museum and Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House.
Author: susanwbailey
My name is Susan Bailey and I find the life of Louisa May Alcott endlessly fascinating. I come from New England (specifically Massachusetts) and my family has been here in one form or another since the 1630′s. I live fairly close to Concord, MA where Orchard House, the homestead of the Alcotts, is located, and visit often. Every few years or so I go on a reading ‘binge’ about Louisa and this time around was so good, I just had to start a blog about my passion. The binge, by the way, still goes on!
I’ve been happily married for over 30 years and my husband is a deacon in the Melkite Church (Eastern Catholic – I am Roman Catholic). We are proud parents of a grown son and daughter.
I’ve worked happily for the last 17 years at Rutledge Properties in Wellesley, MA, supporting the agents in the office.
And in my ‘other life,’ I’ve performed, written and recorded music exploring my Catholic faith. I have a website (www.susanbailey.net) where you can hear samples and find out more about this. I sing at various masses at my home parish of St. Luke the Evangelist in Westboro, MA.
Other interests include history (especially photographic), nature (especially bird watching), and I have the same ‘inordinate love of cats’ that Louisa had. :-)
I am pleased to present this guest post by Jill Fuller and Jamie Burgess. Early April, sunrise. The tree branches are still black against creamy pink sunlight, and I am at my kitchen table surrounded by a stack of books, my laptop, and a mug of coffee. It is our fifth week of lockdown, and …
I am pleased to announce that I have finished the rough draft of Chapter One of my Lizzie book. After extensive research and nine years of stops and starts, I am finally getting this down on paper. It feels terrific!
A writer needs a strategy when putting together a book, and that can take a long time to figure that out. Once solved, the writing went so much faster. I had to figure out my methodology for writing this biography and stumbled upon the answer while reading about writing a fiction novel! It taught me how to build and use chronological order as the framework while still focusing on themes. My natural tendency is to be a thematic writer, and I am also very much into process. These two things can confuse the reader because exploring themes and processes can make the story hard to follow. I discovered this after…
My thanks to Ray Angelo for finding this, It is from the Neenah Times in Wisconsin, dated Friday August 4, 1893. (courtesy of newspapers.com) Are you passionate about Louisa May Alcott too? Subscribe to the email list and never miss a post! Keep up with news and free giveaways on Susan's books, Louisa May …
“I want to do something splendid. . . something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it and mean to astonish you all someday.” -Jo March Looking for some great and meaningful family-friendly entertainment as we muddle through the pandemic? From Far …
I am pleased to share with you the only known existing journal of Elizabeth Alcott.
Disclaimer #1: I cannot guarantee total accuracy as I am not a professional transcriber. If there is something you want to quote for a paper, please email me through the Contact page, note the page or pages you want, and I will send you photographs of these pages.
Disclaimer #2: I have annotated it with notes and insights (in red) — please keep in mind that these notes are often just my opinion about what I read (and a few might not make sense to you) — these opinions should not be taken otherwise.
Please use the citation information below if you want to quote this diary.
Enjoy this rare look at Lizzie Alcott at ages 10 and 11.
To be quite honest, I didn’t particularly enjoy Alcott’s Moods, especially when compared to the other works we’ve read so far (much like our beloved Susan Bailey). Moods felt very slow-moving to me, and I did not grow to care as much for the characters as I typically do (and did in “La Jeune” and Behind a Mask). I didn’t dislike Sylvia, but she seemed a bit flat to me, and I didn’t have much of an opinion on which man she should marry (if she chose to marry either). I do think, however, that Moods offers readers an interesting look into Alcott’s own feminist and religious views. During her lifetime, Alcott was an avid supporter of women’s rights, and her spirituality was highly influenced by both the transcendentalist movement and the Unitarian Universalist faith that she and her family practiced.
This week, for my artifact blog, I focused on the blog Louisa May Alcott is My Passion (thanks Rachael!). This blog is a collection of analytical and reflective pieces written by Susan Bailey on the “life, works and legacy of Louisa May Alcott and her family.” According to the blog, Bailey is “an active member and supporter of the Louisa May Alcott Society, the Fruitlands Museum and Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House.” While I browsed her blog’s many different categories and posts, I also listened to her podcast episode “Beauty in the humblest things,” which stood out to me as it focuses on Louisa May Alcott’s spiritual life (which has its own category on Bailey’s blog!). According to Bailey and her guest, Alcott’s spirituality is characterized by her belonging to the transcendentalist movement – she found beauty in the mundane and everyday, in human beings and human nature…
I am pleased to present this article that was recently published in the Summer 2020 edition of Discover Concord magazine. You can find the article on page 44: https://issuu.com/discoverconcordma/docs/dcsummer20.full_book Here is a tease: "[Scholar Ray Angelo's] most recent project (which is ongoing) pinpoints as many of Henry David Thoreau's place names in Concord and Lincoln, …
How would you like to be the author that finishes a story started by Louisa May Alcott? And be published in a prominent magazine? Read on ... Many of you are probably aware of a story written by then 17-year-old Louisa May Alcott uncovered at the Houghton Library and published in the current issue of …
