Louisa May Alcott was a 19th century American novelist. Her novels Little Women and Jo's Boys are her best-known works. Alcott became a strong feminist and abolitionist. In 1862-63 she worked as a nurse in the Union Hospital in Georgetown D C. A modern Mephistopheles is a story full of psychological tension and drama. It explores a poor failing writer's price for giving his devotion to another. The novel touches on the subjects of sexuality and drug abuse. Alcott gives her reader a study in human evil and the horrible consequences.