A present to yourself: Louisa May Alcott’s Christmas stories

To paraphrase a famous line, "Christmas won't be Christmas without any stories!" Louisa's stories, that is. In honor of this magical season, here are all the posts I've done on Louisa's Christmas stories. Even though work on my research has precluded reading for pleasure for now (not to say that my work isn't immensely enjoyable), …

Louisa May Alcott Illuminated by The Message only $5 till Christmas

Looking for a great gift for a Louisa lover in your life? How about yourself? My publisher, ACTA, has reduced the price of my book, Louisa May Alcott Illuminated by The Message from $10.95 to only $5 up until Christmas! Here's a sample that you can read. Click here to order your copy. And a …

Happy Birthday Bronson and Louisa! Not a day over 217 and 184 ;-)

NOTE: I just found out my publisher, ACTA, is giving away 15 free copies of Louisa May Alcott Illuminated by The Message in honor of our favorite author's birthday. Go here http://actapublications.com/louisa-may-alcott-illuminated-by-the-message/ and type in code HAPPYBIRTHDAY at checkout. Even if you have your own copy, order one as a gift for friend! * * …

An Old-Fashioned Louisa May Alcott Thanksgiving

From Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag comes "An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving," one of many charming short stories Louisa May Alcott wrote after the success of Little Women. Story summary It's a simple story of a time long ago and far away (very early 19th century), starring a country family in New Hampshire, "poor in money, but rich in …

“Diana and Persis” – compelling, revealing, biographical, and thus, tragically incomplete

By the 1870s, Louisa May Alcott and her baby sister May had become close companions. Although quite different in temperament, both shared that burning ambition to become the artists they were meant to be – Louisa as a best-selling author, and May as an acclaimed painter, exhibiting at the Paris Salon. Unearthing aĀ treasure In the …

Happy Halloween! A treat for Little Women fans: “Norna, or the Witch’s Curse,” the annotated version

What a treat for Halloween and beyond! Juvenilia Press is announcing a new, annotated version of "Norna, or the Witch's Curse:" You can find out more at http://www.arts.unsw.edu.au/juvenilia. "Norna, or the Witch's Curse" is the play performed in Chapter 1 of Little Women. It is part of a book issued in 1893 by Roberts Brothers …

A blunt, controversial psychological study of Miss Alcott — Katharine Anthony’s 1937 biography

The 1930s was an interesting time in Alcott scholarship. The year 1932 marked the one hundredth year of Louisa’s birth. 1938 not only marked the 50th anniversary of Louisa and Bronson’s death but also the 70th anniversary of the publication of Little Women. Thus in 1937, two important biographies were released – Odell Shepherd’s Pedlar’s …

Origin of the P.C. and the P.O. from Little Women — it started earlier than you think.

Research has a way of taking you places you never thought to go. I recently rereaded a 1937 biography of Louisa May Alcott by Katherine Anthony (of which I will write about in a future post) and started to wonder why so much came out about the Alcott family that year. An era of the …

Changes to Louisa May Alcott is My Passion: The Podcast, and promise of a “big reveal”

In the interests of simplifying the experience for you, "Louisa May Alcott is My Passion: The Podcast!" will be featured strictly on this blog. It will no longer be available through iTunes or any other source but right here. Here are all the episodes. This way, you can have the blog post and podcast together …

Louisa May Alcott’s Walpole — visiting the NH town where the Alcotts lived from 1855-1857

On Saturday, Oct. 1 I had the distinct pleasure of touring the town of Walpole NH where Louisa May Alcott and her family lived in Walpole, NH from 1855 through 1857. I was accompanied by my sister Chris and friend Kristi Martin, a certified tour guide of the various Concord historical homes. The historical society …