Louisa May Alcott is My Passion
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.
Note: I received an advance copy of this book from the author for review purposes. Lounging on my wicker love seat with the koi pond (and its sprinkling fountain) in view, I had a most enjoyable summer read with The Other Alcott, a novel about May Alcott by Elise Hooper. May Alcott fleshed out Abigail …
Continue reading "Book Review: The Other Alcott by Elise Hooper"
I need your help. I am writing my book proposal for the biography on Elizabeth Alcott and I need more input from you as a fan of Little Women. Here are a few short questions -- if you could comment below with your answers, that would really help. And thank you! What would you most …
Continue reading "What would you like to know about the woman behind Beth March?"
My commute to work is one hour or more each way so I have to do something to entertain myself. I tend to have what I call “brain dumps” while driving and when I do, I whip out my phone and turn on the Dragon app. Then I dictate what I’m thinking. A good portion …
Trix Wilkins of the Much Ado about Little Women blog (an excellent blog, by the way, all about Little Women) has written a most intriguing re-imagining of Little Women with different endings for characters. In her description of the book she writes, Set in the early 1870s, this re-imagining of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women …
Continue reading "Summer Reading Recommendation: The Courtship of Jo March"
Look what I got in the mail the other day: This is an advance copy of Elise Hooper's first book, The Other Alcott, published by Harper Collins in which she imagines May Alcott's life beginning in 1868. Elise gave a wonderful talk last summer at the Summer Conversational Series on May's life as an artist. …
Continue reading "Coming attractions – watch for a new novel on May Alcott coming out in September"
From the Firestone Library of Princeton University comes this fascinating and brief look inside the process of putting together the Second Part of Little Women for initial publication. This article shows the original frontispiece illustrated by Hammatt Billings (showing Amy and Laurie in Europe) and Louisa's comments scribbled in the margins. Then we get to …
I am listening for a second time to Harriet Reisen's fine biography, Louisa May Alcott The Woman Behind Little Women. In discussing Louisa's childhood Reisen makes many references to a story Louisa wrote for her first children's series, Morning-Glories and Other Stories. Having little experience with writing children's stories, Louisa opted to learn by doing, …
Continue reading "“Poppy’s Pranks” reveals the childhood of Louisa May Alcott"
In reading through the large collection of letters and journal entries I have from Alcott family members, it occurred to me that with a few exceptions, the sisters did not disparage one another. This is remarkable since sibling rivalry and age differences can present many challenges. Since any show of anger was frowned upon in …
Continue reading "Sibling rivalry – did “Little Women” spur May on to success?"
While researching my biography on Elizabeth Alcott, I did a very careful re-read of Little Women using Daniel Shealy's excellent annotated edition. In the course of my reading I found many interesting little details. One of them involved the poem in Chapter 46 which brought Professor Bhaer to Jo's side. Called "In the Garret," a …
I am pleased to present this guest post by Elizabeth Hilprecht, a regular reader whose insightful comments you have most likely read. We have been having a wonderful email chat back and forth about Daniel Shealy's Little Women Abroad and I asked her if she would share some of the wonderful stories taken from letters …
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 