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.
Reading Eve LaPlante’s duo biography on Abigail and Louisa in Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother, I kept seeing references to a little-known book about Abigail titled Transcendental Wife by Cynthia Barton, published in 1996. Having just finished the book, I can see why LaPlante and other Alcott …
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Over the past few weeks I wrote the longest piece I have ever written, over 6000 words. Life has been far too busy for my taste lately so I could only work on it in bits and pieces. I have my hour carved out first thing in the morning for writing, beginning with the first …
Come on over to the Louisa May Alcott is My Passion Facebook page and let your feelings be known about the Little Women remake. I have articles for and against the remake, plus some casting ideas. We'd love to have you all join in! Like our page and join in the discussion: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Louisa-May-Alcott-is-My-Passion/138623432845648 Click to …
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Little did Louisa May Alcott know that when she wrote Little Women, her classic book based upon her own family life and their “queer” adventures, she was writing the story that was on the heart of all Americans. Universal family It was time when American yearned for its own literature, its own family. The March …
You never know what a house can tell you! No matter how many times I visit Orchard House, I always learn something new. Last Friday I had the privilege of meeting longtime email friends from Paris, France. Charline Bourdin, the author of the first French biography of Louisa May Alcott and the webmaster of a …
Results of True/False Quiz I see some of you tried the True/False quiz of what was real and what was made up in Little Women. No one got 100% but you were very close! Here are the answers: Hannah the servant FALSE - The Alcotts could not afford any servants in those days The Christmas …
Little Women has been called autobiographical because Louisa May Alcott used so many episodes from her own childhood and that of her family to create the story. But where does fact end and fiction begin? Or does it even work like that? Stern says, “Fact was embedded in fiction, and a domestic novel begun in …
I will be tweeting from the Houghton Library today and let you know when I find something cool. Watch out for my tweets at @LMAismypassion. You follow can me here: https://twitter.com/LMAismypassion Don't do Twitter? There's a live Twitter feed on this blog - scroll down and you'll see it on the left hand side. Back …
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Several of you who follow this blog are writers. I could really use your advice here! Thanks.
Louisa May Alcott was never bashful about borrowing from previous stories to flesh out Little Women. Several short stories set the stage for the classic: “The Sisters’ Trial” (four sisters, Leonore, Agnes, Ella and Amy facing going out to work to deal with the family’s poverty), “A Modern Cinderella” (depicting Anna and John as Nan …
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 