Rediscovering the late Madelon Bedell, author of The Alcotts Biography of a Family

I just ordered a bunch of new books and needed to rearrange my book shelves to get everything to fit. In the midst of the rearranging, I pulled out my copy of The Alcotts Biography of a Family and discovered a promotional photo of the author, Madelon Bedell, and an interview released by the publisher’s …

Highlights from “Mr. Emerson’s Wife”

Mr. Emerson’s Wife by Amy Belding Brown has really caught my imagination. I find myself living it in my head when I'm not reading it and I don't recall a book having done that to me before. What's really funny is that there are several things going on in my life that relate in some …

Book Review: Louisa May Alcott A Personal Biography by Susan Cheever

Susan Cheever has offered the latest in a flurry of books about Louisa May Alcott; hers is titled Louisa May Alcott A Personal Biography. In a little over 250 pages, she sketches out the life of the popular author of Little Women. Cheever's book is an easy read, with a writing style that is very …

Winona Ryder learns from “Little Women”

Here's an article of interest regarding the resurrection of Winona Ryder's career after her arrest and conviction. Before I give my opinion, how about I get yours? What did you think of this writer's take on Little Women and how the movie interpreted it?

The Field Trip of a Lifetime! (part two)

To continue with my account of  the field trip of a lifetime, there were many more treasures that I found at the Concord Free Public Library: A May Alcott Nieriker Exhibition Regular readers of this blog know of my esteem for May Alcott Nieriker. I discovered (first to my dismay and then to my delight) …

“Love and Self-Love,” another early success story for Louisa May Alcott

As I continue to slowly go through Susan Cheever's Louisa May Alcott A Personal Biography and read yet more background, I came upon a story of Louisa's that related to her  incident at the Mill Dam where she nearly threw herself into the water in despair,  to end her life. That story, "Love and Self-Love" …

A must read

Our friend Jillian wrote an incredible post on her blog, A Room of One's Own about Fruitlands and its cast of characters and she called it "Fruity Fruitlands - an Alcott Family Utopia". I can't add any words to this, it's that good. Check it out.

A (fictional) Alcott Family Christmas

Christmas in my office is a lot of fun (I work for an independent Real Estate firm, Rutledge Properties, doing their marketing). We are right in downtown Wellesley, Massachusetts with a lovely storefront, all decorated with a Christmas village of gingerbread houses made by children of the brokers, plus a real antique train set that …

Catching up on Susan Cheever’s new biography on Louisa

At 257 pages, I would have thought that my read of Susan Cheever's Louisa May Alcott A Personal Biography would have been quick and easy. Not so, especially since I've adopted the habit of taking notes as I read! This reminds me of school. 🙂 But I can't tell you how many times I have …

Richard Francis unveils his new book on Fruitlands at the Concord Bookshop

Yet another new book on the Alcotts has been released, this one written by British scholar and professor Richard Francis. Entitled Fruitlands The Alcott Family and Their Search for Utopia, this book is destined to be the definitive work on the failed Fruitlands experiment conducted by Bronson Alcott (with wife and daughters including young Louisa), …